Providing Top-Notch Care for a Healthier You

By Chelsea Pyne

Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center celebrated its five-year anniversary in 2016, recognizing the growth it has experienced and the strong support of the community. The 50-bed facility opened with four operating rooms and a 24-hour emergency room. All patient rooms are private with day-beds for visitors and room-service-style dining. Located at 1750 Kernersville Medical Parkway, the medical center features a full contingent of ancillary services including imaging, lab, pharmacy, and cardiopulmonary testing.

Since its opening, Kernersville Medical Center has significantly improved healthcare quality scores, added medical services, hired more than 300 new team members, and recruited dozens of doctors. Patient volumes have more than doubled since its first year, specifically driven by strong growth in hospital stays, emergency room visits, and surgical volume, which continues to demonstrate double-digit increases year after year.  

To keep pace with patient needs, the new services added include stereotactic breast biopsy, pulmonary rehabilitation, 3-D digital mammography, cancer treatment, MAKOplasty robotic surgery, teleneurology, and telepsychiatry. Hospital patients also have access to physician hospitalists, who staff the medical center around the clock.

Currently, construction has started on a new office building located between the medical center and the medical office building. The building is 60,000-square-feet and will house physician offices and suites, two operating rooms and a procedure room. Future plans include more medical practices and health care services expanding into the Greensboro and High Point areas.  

Novant Health has planted itself and made a commitment to provide the citizens of Kernersville with state-of-the-art healthcare in a state-of-the-art facility,” said Dr. Chan Badger, a physician with Novant Health Northern Family Medicine in Greensboro. “Our community has seen tremendous growth, and Kernersville Medical Center has matched that growth with new services being added each year.”

Cancer Care and Oncology

Kernersville Medical Center provides oncology services for all cancers, thus allowing Triad residents to receive their care closer to home. Board-certified physicians offer personalized medicine for: blood cancers – leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma; brain cancer; breast cancer; gastrointestinal cancer – colon, rectal, gastric, pancreatic, and liver; gynecologic cancer; lung and thoracic cancer; bone cancer; sarcoma; head and neck cancer; skin cancer; and urologic cancers – bladder, kidney, prostate, and testicular.  

Full oncology services are available, from prevention to treatment to survivorship. With an on-site lab and infusion services, the integrated care team of physicians, genetic counselors, psychosocial counselors, and supportive caregivers are ready to assist patients from all walks of life. Additional providers have also been added. Now there are three medical oncologists in addition to the one gynecologic oncologist: Dr. Kathleen Elliott, Dr. Susan Hines, Dr. Judy Hopkins, and Dr. Elizabeth Skinner (gyn oncologist).

Bariatrics

Kernersville Medical Center is a fully accredited comprehensive bariatric surgery center under the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program. The hospital completed its first case in 2013, became accredited in 2014, and has completed over 650 cases to date. The comprehensive weight management team includes board-certified bariatricians, specially trained nurse practitioners, bariatric surgeons, registered dietitians, behavioral health clinicians, and a certified personal trainer.  

Medical services include weight loss counseling and treatment, when indicated, with FDA-approved weight loss medications; support groups; metabolic composition and evaluation; and meal replacements. Surgical options include sleeve gastrectomy, sleeve gastric bypass, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, and adjustable gastric band management. Surgical candidates are led by a team of nurse navigators through a comprehensive preoperative pathway providing extensive education to prepare them for this life-changing surgery.

Breast Imaging

The breast center at the facility continues to receive national recognition, earning the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, which is administered by the American College of Surgeons. This rigorous accreditation indicates exceptional and comprehensive breast cancer care provided at the facility. In 2016, the imaging department also achieved the Breast Ultrasound Accreditation Program granted through the American College of Radiology.  

Services include breast ultrasounds for diagnostic imaging for patients who present a problem (lump or pain) or have an abnormality on the mammogram screening. Breast ultrasounds are used to provide a better diagnosis. Stereotactic biopsies use a two-dimensional biopsy that uses a mammogram machine. The equipment to perform these biopsies is brought to Kernersville Medical Center for two weeks every month. Bone densitometry DEXA measures a patient’s bone density, primarily looking for osteoporosis or bone loss.

Infusion

Kernersville Medical Center’s newly expanded Transitional Care and Infusion Center allows for a better patient-focused scenario. Normally, a patient needing a transfusion or intravenous medication would be admitted to the hospital and spend the night waiting for the transfusion– this is no longer the case. “Transitional care is a way that we are able to provide aggressive inpatient services without an overnight stay in the hospital,” explained Dr. Rita Mullins-Hodgin, an inpatient care specialist. “We know that for a lot of patients, they do much better when they are able to return home, to be in their bed, to be near their family, their pets, their routine.”

Our foundation’s donors have proudly supported the expansion of services that have such a positive effect on people’s lives,” said Chad Setliff, president of Novant Health Kernersville Medical Center. “Patients who need acute or chronic care but do not need to be in the hospital can receive the appropriate care in a comfortable, state-of-the-art environment, come and go as needed, and maintain their normal activities.”

Orthopedics

The orthopedics department is happy to have added robotic partial knee and anterior hip replacements with MAKOplasty as part of their services. Fracture and injury care, foot and ankle care, hip and knee replacement and arthroscopy, sports medicine and sports injuries, shoulder replacements, reconstructions and arthroscopies, elbow, wrist, and hand care are all treated at the Kernersville Medical Center. The hospital offers treatment and surgery for uncomplicated spine and orthopedic tumor conditions as well.

Clinics

About 320 team members make up the 28 medical offices in the Triad area. The clinics specialize in orthopedics; foot and ankle; urological; bariatrics; oncology; women’s heart center; midwifery; psychiatric medicine; breast center; neurology; osteoporosis; wound care; general surgery; ear, nose and throat; vascular surgery; and cardiology.

Since opening, we have invested heavily in the best team members, clinicians, technology, and services to achieve the highest possible outcomes for our patients,” Setliff explained. “We also greatly value the support and leadership of our community members and volunteers who assist us in continuing to evolve and tailor our services to meet the needs of the community, as well as foster partnerships focused on health impact.”

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Kernersville Medical Center

1750 Kernersville Medical Parkway

Kernersville, NC 27284

336-564-4000

NovantHealth.org/KernersvilleMedicalCenter

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