West Tenn. Healthcare plans new rehab hospital
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JACKSON, Tenn. — West Tennessee Healthcare plans to build a new rehabilitation hospital in Jackson as part of a joint partnership announced Tuesday. The planned 48-bed inpatient rehabilitation facility will be a free-standing hospital that will be built in Jackson as part of the joint venture between WTHC and HealthSouth Corporation, according to a release from the health care provider. “With a large hospital like this there are competing demands for space inside of Jackson General,” West Tennessee Healthcare CEO Bobby Arnold said. “So another positive from this is that it will free up space inside this hospital.” Just more than a year after WTHC cut jobs and closed hospitals across the area, officials with HealthSouth say this partnership will bring numerous jobs back to the system. “We’re bringing it from the census of where it is today to a larger hospital,” HealthSouth Vice President of Development Andrew Ward said. “So with that we’ll need more therapists, more nurses and more staff to make it a reality.” The agreement also provides for joint ownership of HealthSouth’s existing Cane Creek Rehabilitation Hospital in Martin. There is no set timeline yet for construction of the new hospital or exactly where it will be located, but officials say they are aiming for 2017.
