The future is in
South Arkansas today
P.O. Box 3180
Camden, Arkansas 71701
TEL: 870-574-1000 - FAX: 870-574-2637
or toll free
1-888-GTFIBER(483-4237)
Email: gtfiber@mail.cei.net
The region's three major medical facilities - Medical Center of South Arkansas/Columbia in El Dorado, Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, and Magnolia City Hospital - offer a combined 595 beds, 150 physicians in general and specialty practices and services ranging from out-patient emergency care to acute coronary and intensive care.
All three provide clinical training facilities for the region's nursing, radiology, and other medical related students. Each also works in conjunction with the University of Arkansas' area Health Education Center to provide in-hospital experience for the center's medical residents.
The hospitals' combined annual payroll exceeds $28.5 million for 1,500 employees. Combined capital investment, renovation, and new construction for tree institution during the past year was more than $5 million. Each facility is among its county's top seven employers.
700 West Grove
El Dorado, AR 71730.
El Dorado's community hospital is the largest health care facility in the region. As an affiliate of Columbia/HCA, Medical Center of South Arkansas has partnered with the nation's largest healthcare services provider to offer highly trained specialists and state-of-the-art equipment and services. At the same time, however, the Medical Center of South Arkansas/Columbia is locally managed by hometown people who share the values and interests of our community.
MCSA/Columbia provides a complete range of care including inpatient and out patient diagnostic treatment services, one-day surgery, home health care, and home infusion.
In addition, MCSA/Columbia offers a highly technical and sophisticated diagnostic and treatment protocols including CT, MRI, gastrointestinal testing and treatments, cardiac catheterization, radial keratotomy, and laser surgery of the eye, neurological and vascular testing, physical rehabilitation, recuperative care, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, pain management, sleep studies, and lithotripsy.
Specialties represented at MCSA/Columbia include anesthesiology, cardiology, neurology, dermatology, emergency medicine, family practice, gastroenterology, internal medicine, nephrology, neonatology, psychiatry, physiatry, oral and maxillofacial surgery, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pathology, pediatrics, surgery, radiology, and urology.
The SHARE foundation, formerly Medical Center of South Arkansas, oversees the community's interest in the operation of Medical Center of South Arkansas/Columbia.
For more information, visit Columbia/HCA Web Site.
The Camden Medical Center offers services usually associated with bigger-city hospitals, including a chemical dependency unit, home health care program, a hospice program and a physical rehabilitation.
The hospital strives to maintain a proficient staff of employees who are encouraged and assisted in continuing additional education while affiliated with the hospital.
In conjunction with the UA Area Health Education Center, the hospital has opened a satellite clinic in Stephens.
"One of our greatest contributions to the state is the role of our residents in the Stephens Community Oriented Primary Care satellite clinic," says Dr. R. Mark Dixon, director of the residency training program at the hospital. "Each upper-level resident does a one-month rotation at the clinic, gaining broad experience in preventive medicine and primary care to patients."
Recent capital investment includes renovation of the radiology department and a newly constructed day surgery center. Other improvements are planned, including a professional office building.
In support of its services, the hospital's up-to-date equipment includes an Elscint CT scanner, Diasonic ultra-sound, spectrum chemical analyzer and nuclear medicine equipment.
Unique among its services is the hospital's work hardening program offered by the department of orthopedic rehabilitation. The program offers state-of-the-art equipment used for functional capacity evaluations, job site analyses, pre-employment screenings and post-operative medical and surgical treatment.
In addition to providing basic diagnostic and treatment facilities, the Magnolia hospital has outpatient clinics in audiology, orthopedics, urology, oral surgery, psychiatry and ear, nose and throat ailments.
Two of the fastest-growing areas of the hospital are the home health agency, with about 10,000 visits last year, and the rural health center serving the rural health care needs of Columbia County.
In response to an acute shortage of health care providers, the Area Health Education Center Program was developed through the cooperation of the governor, the Arkansas General Assembly University of Arkansas.
The goal of the program was to significantly improve the number and distribution of primary health care providers in Arkansas for the next 20 years. Some 24 years later, AHEC continues to realize its goals.
One of the six throughout the state, the AHEC in El Dorado serves the health care and physical educational needs of six southern Arkansas counties including Columbia, Ouachita, and Union.
"There has been a very positive impact on the availability of primary care in our service area," said AHEC Director Dr. Peter J. Carroll. "Graduates are working in medically underserved areas through CABUN Rural Health Services Inc. and its associated clinics. Nine graduates have opened practices in El Dorado and three graduates have joined the AHEC faculty, including Dr. Mark Dixon, who serves as residency director."
Dixon noted that of the 397 family practice residency programs in the United States, only three are located in communities smaller than El Dorado.
AHEC also offers associate degree nursing students from Magnolia the opportunity to obtain their Master's degrees through cooperation with the College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
In addition, residents, nursing students, and the medical community in AHEC's service area benefit form the center's compressed interactive video. The south Arkansas location was one of three chosen for the introduction of this technology.
Eighty-one percent of the patients treated at the South Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institutes are from the Golden Triangle.
Since it began in 1983, SARTI has continued to achieve its goal of providing up-to-date diagnostic and radiation therapy services to southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana.
SARTI constantly upgrades its equipment to provide computerized axial tomography (CAT scan), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mammography test services.
SARTI grew out of the need to provide patients with a way to say in their home environment for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, trauma, and other acute care illness and conditions. Prior to SARTI's establishment, it was necessary for patients to travel to regional population centers for procedures that are now routinely done locally.
The Community Hospice at SARTI is a home care program for terminal patients and their families. Hospice recognizes dying as a part of the normal process of living and focuses on maintaining quality of life.
The South Arkansas Regional Health Center provides a full spectrum of professional mental health services to a six-county region, including the Golden Triangle counties.
In addition to its central location in El Dorado, the center has fully-staffed offices in Camden and Magnolia.
In-patient and out-patient therapy is offered for a wide range of
emotional problems, and the center provides a comprehensive substance
abuse program for adults and adolescents suffering from alcohol and drug
abuse problems. Local in-patient hospitalization at Magnolia Hospital,
Ouachita County Medical Center in Camden, and MCSA/Columbia HCA in El
Dorado is provided for persons needing more intensive treatment.
