The new $76 million Roane Medical Center is expected to spark economic growth and should provide a winning scenario for the community, Roane County and possibly the region.



The new medical center, which opened this week, could provide a winwin scenario, but the second win redeveloping the site of the old medical center in Harriman might come later. The new medical center welcomed the public to an open house on Feb. 10, with various hospital officials and local elected officials praising the new facility.



Tony Spezia, president and CEO of Covenant Health, of which the medical center is a nike nfl jerseys wholesale part, said that more than onethird of the patient cases and services had departed the old medical center. That resulted in the loss of jobs and an estimated millions of dollars.



Medical professionals, hospital administrators and public officials are hoping the new 145,000squarefoot medical center in Midtown will provide a resurgence of economic activity, much as the new medical centers in Loudon and Sevier counties have for their communities.



The new center is on 64 acres off Roane State Highway. It has private rooms, 15 emergency suites, a cardiac catheterization lab, digital women's services nfl jerseys china and parking spaces for 500. In addition to the medical center itself, an adjacent office building will include Thompson Oncology Group, Roane Medical Patricia Neal Outpatient Center and Roane Medical Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation.



A gift of $200,000 raised by employees and physicians will provide additional services. The Harriman Rotary Club provided a gift of $135,000 for a community room that can be used for meetings and for educational purposes. Census Bureau.



The second part of the winwin scenario will come if the hospital building in downtown Harriman and other nearby buildings are redeveloped into economically viable entities. The city of Harriman has proposed converting the existing hospital building into a Veterans Administration hospital. Harriman Mayor Chris Mason earlier this year went to Washington to promote a plan, but he said, "We're still fighting that fight."



Meanwhile, the city had received about a dozen letters of interest from different developers for some properties adjoining the hospital. The task facing the city will be to encourage retail commercial growth in an area where Mason said there had been little room for it because of the hospital. If the economic encouragement works, he said, "It can be a winwin."



The winwin would be the best of both worlds for Harriman and Roane County. All of that begins with the new Roane County Medical Center and the promise of topquality health care for the community.



Now let's see if they can actually find competent doctors and nurses that want to work there. Roane County is infested with thieves, methheads, and crackheads. Thanks to the good ol' boy geniuses running the city and county government that ran off all the industry decades ago. As corrupt as Roane County is, that place won't last a year. As for attracting the "retirement" community, those people will take one step in there, take a look at some of the local fare, run or hobble back out to the parking lot and hope they don't get mugged on the way, and drive to West Knoxville to a real hospital.



Now let's see if they can actually find competent doctors and nurses that want to work there. Roane County is infested with thieves, methheads, and crackheads. Thanks to the good ol' boy geniuses running the city and county government that ran off all the industry decades ago. As corrupt as Roane County is, that place won't last a year. As for attracting the "retirement" community, those people will take one step in there, take a look at some of the local fare, run or hobble back out to the parking lot and hope they don't get mugged on the way, and drive to West Knoxville to a real hospital.



Whether it would spur growth, or even whether Roane County really wants it to is debatable. Attracting retirees isn't always good for everyone, as we've seen in other areas that have done it like Loudon County and Monroe County. Tax rates went up, and many locals were priced right out of the market.



Certainly this won't be the boost that an actual manufacturing plant would be, and most of the jobs created won't pay much. But a few speculators will make fortunes, maybe that's what KNS has in mind as a boost.