Interim hospital opens in tornado-ravaged town

Just 13 months after a tornado ripped through Americus, Ga., killing two people and destroying dozens of homes and businesses, including Sumter Regional Hospital, the town of 17,000 is celebrating the grand opening of a new 76-bed interim hospital.

Designed by Stegenga + Partners, Atlanta, the facility is composed of more than 350 prefabricated steel-frame modules supplied by COGIM, Rome, Italy, which were stacked next to each other to form a full-service hospital complete with five operating rooms, labor and delivery rooms, a nursery, emergency department, ICU, food service, and patient rooms.

Construction on the replacement hospital is expected to begin in early 2009. When the permanent facility opens, the interim hospital will be decommissioned, disassembled, and possibly moved to a new location that is faced with a similar need.