By Laura Walter

Often, when a medical system begins expanding, new offices get locations across the region. But as they grow, it takes a major project to bring them back under one roof.

During the holiday season of 2023-24, Atlantic General Hospital and Health System celebrated the opening of its newest construction project: the Gudelsky Family Medical Center opened in Ocean Pines, Md. The nearly 50,000 square-foot healthcare center on Racetrack Road (near the casino) is the new home of AGH’s diabetes and endocrinology center, a primary care office, pediatrics and gastroenterology—plus a second location for the walk-in lab, X-ray services and pharmacy.

“Honestly, my team loves being there,” said Brooke Williams, Director of Imaging for Atlantic General Hospital. “The new building’s beautiful.”

The X-ray team is conveniently placed near all those other doctors and specialists. “It’s awesome to be there right when the physician needs it,” Williams said. For instance, parents can take their coughing child to Pediatrics, and if needed, get a chest X-ray a few doors down. “When you’re a parent with kids, you don’t want to take them into the hospital to get an X-ray. This is like a one-stop shop, and it’s convenient for patients … and this is outpatient, so you don’t have the hustle and bustle of a hospital.”

“Especially when COVID was at its peak, patients were very iffy about walking through the doors of a hospital,” agreed Karan Bealla, Pharmacy Manager.

Staff moved in, one office at a time. “We started with our pediatric practice because they were in what I call a 3-by-3 postage stamp size office over in West OC. They opened the first Monday in December and went from five exam rooms to 13, so they were thrilled,” said Robin Ferger-Hill, Director of Operations. “Then the second was our GI practice; they too were in a very small, cramped office space [previously].” It felt exciting. One doctor even said, ‘I feel like were freshman at move-in week in the dorm!’

“It’s all gone splendidly. The staff have all melded and meshed.” And does it still smell like fresh paint or new concrete? “Yes,” she laughed.

A bigger building sets AGH up for better service and patient comfort.

“There’s lot of space for the patients. We have oversized hallways, a very open-space concept for our registration and waiting room. It’s very handicapped friendly, with automatic doors,” Ferger-Hill said.

“I love how in the waiting area, you don’t feel like you’re on top of people,” agreed Bealla. “From the perspective of someone who has to go in for appointments … there’s a lot of area for people to sit and wait.”

AGH pharmacy services will also expand significantly when AGHRx RediScripts opens in spring 2024. “We have a lot of people assume the hospital pharmacy is just for hospital patients, but we are open to the public,” Bealla said. This second location will also have a drive-thru, plus more storage for staff. “We were also involved in the layout and design … so we can offer more service lines,” such as blister packs for pills, flavoring for human and pet meds, or pharmacist-prescribed birth control for ages 18 and over.

“A pharmacy’s super accessible. You can walk in, tell us what you need. We don’t really do appointment-based service, since COVID restrictions were lifted,” Bealla said. Pharmacists don’t have doctorates, but they are skilled health care experts—especially in administering medicine and checking that your multiple medications don’t potentially react to each other. AGH has a test-and-treat program if you might have the flu, and the staff can perform injections (both vaccines or monthly prescriptions). A private consultation room also gives patients privacy, if desired.

AGH now occupies all the suites they currently intend to. The building itself also includes additional office space where the developer/owner can add additional services. The medical portion is named for the family that donated $4 million toward AGH projects, which in 2019 was largest single private donation Atlantic General Hospital had ever received.

“We’re open for business! We want to be there to serve the community. We’re certainly taking new patients,” Ferger-Hill said.

Learn more about health services at atlanticgeneral.org or (410) 641-1100.