Cookeville Regional’s major expansion in neurological care now complete, as hospital leaders officially opened the new 4 West Neuro Stepdown unit Tuesday.
CRMC 4 West Director of Nursing Laura Kee said the new unit will focus on neurological and neurosurgical care, including stroke patients. Kee said they will provide a level of rehabilitation and treatment the hospital has not previously been able to offer in one dedicated space.
“We’ve previously only been able to accommodate 24 patients, which is standard unit size for most everywhere,” Kee said. “But this is a 30-bed unit. So it’s an increase of 25 percent on our beds.”
Beyond capacity, the unit is designed to provide comprehensive, patient-centered care, including access to speech, occupational, and physical therapy, as well as a wide range of medical specialists and support services.
“We have all the therapies with speech therapy. We have occupational therapy. We have physical therapy,” Kee said. “And then anything that you could need in terms of consults with all the specialties… we have dietitians… we have everything that you would have in any hospital of this size that you would expect.”
The additional inpatient beds will bring Cookeville Regional’s total bed count to 309. Kee said that expansion is critical for a facility that serves a wide rural region.
“It’s something that you actually give to a community because we service, I believe, probably 14 counties,” Kee said. “So this means that you make sure that your ED (Emergency Department) stays as uncongested as possible because you’ve expanded the amount of inpatient beds that you have to service that community.”
The design of the unit also emphasizes comfort and recovery, featuring locally inspired artwork donated by photographer Chuck Sutherland, with images from Tennessee state parks intended to motivate patients during rehabilitation.
The expansion is part of a broader effort to meet growing healthcare needs in the Upper Cumberland, particularly in neurological care.
“I think anywhere that you go, you do what they would call a windshield survey of what is that community’s needs,” Kee said. “And so neuro is a large part of what you want to address here in this part of Tennessee.”
Kee said patients are set to begin moving into the new unit on Wednesday, with staff preparing for a carefully coordinated transition.
“It’s going to be a fun day,” Kee said. “We’ve upstaffed by about twice what we need… we have liaisons from our patient experience department… and we’ll be talking with families by phone as we transport them to their new wing.”
Kee credited the success of the project to collaboration between hospital departments and construction partners, including Turner Construction.
“I’m more than pleased,” Kee said. “Everyone literally… has been involved and has a great amount of ownership in everything that you see here.”
Hospital officials say the new 4 West unit represents a significant step forward in expanding access to specialized care while improving patient outcomes across the region. The new unit, along with 5 West, costs an estimated $17 miliion to complete