Mercy Health Love County Hospital in Marietta opened a temporary emergency room this month, over a year after a deadly tornado left severe damage.
The temporary ER is located on the hospital’s campus and is staffed 24 hours a day for walk-in and ambulance emergencies, according to a press release. Those on duty include physician assistants, nurses, laboratory technologists, respiratory therapists and radiology technicians.
The emergency room hosts three treatment bays, a trauma room and a complete laboratory.
"With the opening of the temporary emergency room we have every service back that we had lost, including laboratory and radiology, so patients can be served in Marietta and not have to travel," said hospital administrator Scott Callender.
The hospital and its clinic had to close last year after the April 2024 tornado left blown-out windows, crumbling ceilings and a mangled exterior in its wake. Its clinic reopened last June, but the hospital still lacks inpatient care. The hospital building needs to be repaired or replaced to make that happen, according to the release.
Callender said he expects FEMA authorities to approve hospital construction soon.
“If so, FEMA will pay the largest part of the cost of a new hospital outside of insurance coverage on the old building,” the release reads.
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