CORDELE — It’s taken a while, but the Crisp County Regional Hospital’s Oncology Unit is entering the final stages of its renovations.

The renovation, which Crisp Region Health Services Community Relations Director Brooke Marshall said was greatly needed.

“You could walk in and patients would be in the waiting area and if you walked back in the infusion area where they were getting their treatments they were just stacked on top of one another,” Marshall said. “There was no privacy and we see a ton of cancer patients.”

Since 2014, the numbers of patients visiting the oncology unit at the hospital has only increased putting the need for a more efficient and updated area for patients at the top of the priority list.

The plan was for renovations to begin three years ago and be a $500,000 renovation, the only catch was the hospital foundation, not the hospital would be paying for the upgrade. Over time the demand continued to grow and it was decided there would need to be more square footage added to the unit. According to Marshall, around 600-800 addition square feet will be added to the unit, raising the price tag to $800,000.

Construction began in mid-August and has carried all the way up until this point with the hospital foundation in a capital campaign.

“Our employee staff has been very generous with their money,” Marshall said. “They raised about $200,000 just by themselves. These people care about where they work.”

A basic overview of the renovations is the expansion of existing space along with reorganizing the flow of traffic to give patients more privacy.

Marshall says the hospital is committed to keeping up with the best technology they can get for local residents and people that travel to come get treatment.

Some other financial backers have been Crisp Regional Auxiliary-$40,000,Cordele Community League- $25,000, $70,000 through the Rural Hospital Tax Credit and $15,000 each from Planter’s First, Marvair, Colony Bank, Ameris and South Georgia Bank. The unit will be opened later next month.