Residents of Shelby County will soon have quicker access to emergency room services, said Garry Gause, CEO of Brookwood Medical Center.

Alabama’s first free-standing emergency room was approved July 21 to be built at the intersection of Alabama 119 and U.S. 280 by the Alabama’s Certificate of Need Review Board.

Gause said he believes the new facility will improve the lives of those in Shelby County.

“We are trying to take the services to the community instead of making the community come to the services,” said Gause.

The new facility will provide services to what Gause said is historically their primary service area, allowing their patients to get the care they need quicker than having to drive to Homewood.

The $19 million, nearly 20,000 square foot facility will provide around-the-clock care by board-certified emergency medicine physicians with specialty physicians available 24 hours a day.

It will include 24-hour laboratory, pharmacy and diagnostic services such as CT, MRI, X-ray and ultrasound, according to a press release from the hospital.

Gause said the facility has been long in the making, starting with meetings in 2006 with local neighborhood associations and civic groups. With their input, the hospital came up with the plans they thought would best meet the needs of the community.

Brookwood Medical Center plans to break ground in six months and have the facility open and fully operating in 18 months.

For further information, visit 280ERNow.com.