Two major health care companies are seeing growth in the number of patients they are serving in Cherokee County.

Northside Hospital-Cherokee saw 89,100 patients during its 2009 fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2008, to Sept. 30, 2009. Those numbers increased from about 87,000 in fiscal year 2008, said Russ Davis, director of marketing and public relations for Northside Hospital.

While Davis would not disclose year-to-year patient totals by specific services, he did say increases occurred across the board.

"We have seen growth in most all major clinical service areas from 2008-2009," he said.

WellStar's Urgent Care facility in Towne Lake served 12,985 patients in 2009, an increase from 11,293 in 2008.

Keith Bowermaster, marketing and public relations director for WellStar, said growth in the county's population is a factor in the influx of patients.

The WellStar Kennestone at Towne Lake Medical Imaging Center also saw gains to 15,460 patients in 2009 up from the 14,811 the previous year, manager Kimberly Hartley said.

The center in 2009 completed 2,305 computerized tomography scans up from 1,774 the previous year, 1,144 magnetic resonance imaging scans up from 727 and 5,409 mammograms up from 5,360.

In 2010, Northside will focus on new facilities to serve its growing patient base in Cherokee County.

The Northside-Holly Springs Medical Office Building is slated to open Wednesday.

The 75,000-square-foot medical office building sits on seven acres on Sixes Road at Interstate 575 exit 11.

Housed at the facility will be a full-service imaging center, an urgent care physicians group, an obstetrician and gynecology practice, urology specialists, open radiology, and family and internal medicine physicians.

The building, he said, will be leased with equity ownership and "It's filling up nicely." He said the entire building could be filled by mid-year.

"We are very pleased with the outcome of the medical office building and think it will be a major medical asset to the community in the days and years ahead," Davis said.

Northside is also finalizing the master site plan for a 140,000-squre-foot hospital to be built at the Canton Marketplace development on Highway 20 at I-575 exit 19 to replace the current facility on Hospital Road in Canton.

Plans are on hold for construction of Northside's 40,000-square-foot medical office building adjacent to the new Kroger shopping center on Hickory Flat Highway.

Also in 2010, Davis said Northside will look at possibly making additional changes to the Canton hospital's emergency room "for growth opportunities."

A sleep lab that will match the Atlanta hospital's facility will begin operating in March at the Canton hospital. The sleep lab will perform studies, readings and interpretations.

Looking back, Davis said 2009 was an innovative year for Northside.

The company expanded the surgical capacity at the Canton hospital by increasing the number of rooms from four to six. Bariatric and robotic surgeries both have increased at the hospital.

"It's allowed us to provide more care," he said of the expansion.

The hospital employs 700 people, making it one of the largest employers in the county.

Northside's positron emissions tomography/computerized tomography mobile unit shared by the Canton and Forsyth hospital's has become an important tool for those diagnosed with cancer in the county.

"It's been well-received," he said. The mobile unit is at the Canton hospital once a week to perform cancer checks.

At WellStar's Imaging Center, Ms. Hartley said a new high-field open MRI scanner and a new Toshiba 16-slice CT scanner were added to the facility in 2009.

The 10-employee center also extended its hours for mammography and MRI services to keep up with demand.

"They're doing really well," she said of both services.

The center hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and on Mondays, the center opens at 7:30 a.m. and stays open until 8 p.m. for MRIs and mammograms.

For 2010, Ms. Hartley said she would like to see the center further extend its hours to stay open later on Saturdays.