Parkridge holds ribbon cutting for Soddy-Daisy emergency room

SODDY-DAISY, Tenn. (WDEF) – Northern Hamilton County has seen a lot of growth. Soddy-Daisy’s population as of the last Census in 2020 was a little over 13,000 and is likely closer to 14,000 according to recent estimates. 

That’s nearly double what the town’s population was 50 years ago, according to Census records. 

With that in mind, the lack of a hospital with an emergency room has been an issue, until now. 

The brand new Parkridge Emergency Room will be the first ER in Soddy-Daisy. 

The ribbon cutting ceremony held at Parkridge’s new emergency room in Soddy-Daisy.

It is located off of the Highway 27 exit at Harrison Lane in the town’s largest commercial district.

Parkridge CEO Chris Cosby said, “For us, you really take a look at Soddy’s growing, Chattanooga’s growing out this way, and these residents have to drive 20 minutes to get to the closest hospital, so this allows us to bring health care into their backyard.”

It is the sixth emergency room established by Parkridge.

Dr. Daniel Poor is the regional emergency room director and medical director for the Parkridge Soddy-Daisy ER. 

Dr. Poor said, “We’re going to have 24/7 board certified physician coverage here. We have a full capable lab, imaging including ultrasound, X-Ray and CAT scan. We’re able to treat every emergent issue and non-emergent issue through the door… Everything about it is cool. In the resuscitation bay, we have everything. We have warm fluids, we have pediatric resuscitation, we have OBGYN, neonatal resuscitation, full cardiac arrest. We can handle orthopedic injuries, penetrating injuries, gunshots, knife wounds, fishhook injuries, traffic injuries. Anything that can come through the door, we are trained to handle.”

The emergency room will be designed to work in conjunction with other Parkridge campuses.

Cosby said, “If you come to an ER and just need ER treatment, then you’ll be right here. But if you need in patient admission or surgery or something, then we’ll get you transferred to the hospital and get you admitted or in surgery depending on what’s going on.”

Even though Friday was the ribbon cutting, it will likely be a few weeks before the hospital is actually open for service as Parkridge is dealing with shipping delays on some equipment.