Take a look inside new ER on Saturday from noon until 3 p.m.

CMC-Kannapolis open house is Saturday. Submitted photo

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — The new freestanding emergency room off I-85 at exit 63 in Kannapolis will host public tours Saturday and open for business Jan. 16.

The open house at 2711 Lane St. runs from noon to 3 p.m.

CMC-Kannapolis, a 26,385 square-foot, 24-hour emergency care center, is part of Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast in Concord. Services will include:

• Full-service imaging center with CT scanner and ultrasound capabilities

• Observation beds for patients who need may need extended examination and treatment

• Laboratory services

• Access for outpatient services

Carolinas HealthCare System, the parent company of Carolinas Medical Center, declined to allow the Salisbury Post to publish photos of the inside of the $17 million facility until Friday. Media representatives will tour the new building Thursday.

In 2008, Carolinas HealthCare System beat out Rowan Regional Medical Center and Novant Healthcare for approval to build a new medical facility near the Cabarrus-Rowan county line.

Novant had proposed a $107 million, 50-bed community hospital on Moose Road, but the N.C. Division of Health Services Regulation approved only the proposal for the freestanding emergency department.

Dr. Michael Kaczmarek will serve as medical director for CMC-Kannapolis.

A Salisbury woman was named nurse manager in September. Karen Corker, who has worked at CMC-NorthEast for nearly 17 years, will supervise the staff at CMC-Kannapolis.

Corker has 13 years’ experience in the Emergency Care Center at CMC-NorthEast and also worked part time on the CMC-NorthEast Mobile Intensive Care Unit.

CMC-Kannapolis will be one of the region’s first freestanding emergency departments, with 10 treatment rooms and two private observation rooms for monitoring patients who come to the facility.

The facility also will include a laboratory, advanced diagnostic imaging and electronic communications for patients who need to be admitted to a hospital, so doctors there will have patient data and test results when the patient arrives.

Patients who require hospitalization would be transferred to CMC in Charlotte or CMC-NorthEast.

CMC-Kannapolis stands where the former Church of God was located.

Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.