About Knoxville, Tennessee
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New tools, procedures make debut at hospitals

Over the past year, Knoxville hospitals opened their doors even wider to accommodate two groups of needy patients: hurricane evacuees and TennCare disenrollees.

At least two Knoxville health systems - University Health Systems and Baptist Health Systems - attributed layoffs of some hospital employees to the impact of more than 100,000 Tennesseans losing state health insurance.

Baptist - which includes downtown Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee, newer Baptist Hospital West and Baptist Hospital for Women at Turkey Creek, and management of hospitals in Etowah and Tazewell - struggled through a year of changes, ending 2005 with about $190 million in long-term debt.

A task force formed to come up with a plan to turn around operations, and rumors of the health system's sale abounded, spurred on by the abrupt resignation of longtime President/CEO Dale Collins in November. (He was replaced by Warren Payne.) In late February, a spokeswoman said Baptist is looking at several options, including an offer from a group of local physicians to take over operations.

But Baptist also continued to add services, recently acquiring a system to deliver image-guided radiation therapy, helping doctors quickly and precisely locate and target tumors. The On-Board Imager uses robotic arms and reduces the need to treat healthy tissue around a tumor by taking into account variations in body and organ movement before and during treatment.

Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center also made use of robotic arms, acquiring the da Vinci robotics system, which allows surgeons to operate through dime-size incisions. Specifically useful for prostate cancer and lung cancer surgeries, the technology promises fewer complications, less pain and quicker recovery.

Fort Sanders, owned by Covenant Health, also added a Light Speed 64-slice VCT scanner, which provides high-resolution full-body scans in 10 seconds and "instantaneous" brain scans; and a 14-ton Signa EXCITE MRI scanner that had to be lowered by crane through the hospital's roof to its basement.

Sister Covenant hospital Parkwest Medical Center completed full renovations, including a new 30-bed critical-care unit with a family-centric waiting area - and combining all imaging functions in the new six-story Riverstone Tower.

Parkwest also acquired a new, faster MRI unit with higher imaging quality and a Light Speed CT scanner with cardiac capabilities, and opened a new Sleep Disorders Lab in Riverstone.

East Tennessee Children's Hospital completed its three-year, $31.8 million renovation, adding a 115,800-square-foot, seven-story tower; a third floor over the two-story Emergency Department and Outpatient Clinics wing; and a new outdoor courtyard.

The project renovated 110,700 square feet of existing space, expanding every major department and adding beds to the emergency department, general medical units, outpatient surgery, inpatient surgery and neonatal intensive care unit. The plan added playrooms and family spaces and incorporated a hospitalwide colorful, child-friendly decor.

In July, St. Mary's Health System broke ground on St. Mary's Medical Center North, a $67 million, 1800,000-square-foot full-service hospital near the intersection of Interstate 75 and Emory Road.

The health system, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005, began assembling land in the area years ago and opened a Health & Fitness Center there in 1999 and a Cancer, Imaging and Women's Center and medical office building in 2004. It will relocate 72 beds from its main campus off Broadway to the new hospital.

St. Mary's also added new technology and services, including 3D biplane angiography that allows neurosurgeons and radiologists to determine the exact location, size and blood-flow impact of clots or aneurysms in the arteries; diagnostic physiological testing for diseases of the autonomic nervous system; and the Anodyne Therapy System, which treats diabetes-caused nerve damage in the arms and legs. A newly available procedure treats pelvic organ prolapse in women, in which the muscles and tissues that hold in place the pelvic organs - uterus, bladder and rectum - begin to weaken and cause the organs to move.

Surgeons at the University of Tennessee Medical Center's Heart Lung Vascular Institute performed a new thoracic aneurysm procedure. The less-invasive procedure allows faster recovery and less blood loss and reduces the risk of paraplegia.

UT Medical Center also obtained a 3D Iso C arm, used to provide high-definition images in the operating room during spinal surgery, and a noninvasive sterotactic radiosurgery system, CyberKnife, which can target a dose of radiation to tumors in the head, neck and spine, as well as other areas in the body that before may have required traditional surgery to remove.

EAST TENNESSEE HOSPITALS

KNOX COUNTY
. Baptist Hospital of East Tennessee
137 Blount Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37920
865-632-5011
www.baptistoneword.org

. Baptist Hospital West/Baptist Hospital for Women
10820 Parkside Drive
Knoxville, TN 37922
865-218-7011 (West); 865-218-6011 (Women)
www.baptistoneword.org

. East Tennessee Children's Hospital
2018 W. Clinch Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37916
865-541-8000
www.etch.com

. Parkwest Medical Center
9352 Park West Blvd.
Knoxville, TN 37923
865-373-1000
www.yesparkwest.com

. Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center
1901 Clinch Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37916
865-541-1111
www.fsregional.com

. St. Mary's Medical Center
900 E. Oak Hill Ave.
Knoxville, TN 37917
865-545-8000
www.stmaryshealth.com

. University of Tennessee Medical Center
1924 Alcoa Highway
Knoxville, TN 37929
865-544-9000
www.utmedicalcenter.org


ANDERSON COUNTY
. Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge
990 Oak Ridge Turnpike
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
865-481-1000
www.mmcoakridge.com


BLOUNT COUNTY
. Blount Memorial Hospital
907 Lamar Alexander Parkway
Maryville, TN 37804
865-983-7211
www.blountmemorial.org

JEFFERSON COUNTY
. Jefferson Memorial Hospital
110 Hospital Drive
Jefferson City, TN 37760
865-471-2500
www.stmaryshealth.com

LOUDON COUNTY
. Fort Loudoun Medical Center
550 Ft. Loudoun Med. Center Dr.
Lenoir City, TN 37772
865-271-6000
www.ftloudoun.com

ROANE COUNTY
. Roane Medical Center
412 Devonia St.
Harriman, TN 37748
865-882-1323
www.roanemedical.com

SEVIER COUNTY
. Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center
709 Middle Creek Road
Sevierville, TN 37862
865-429-6100
www.fssevier.com