TIFTON — Tift Regional Health System broke ground on a new facility in Adel on Mar. 8.

The Cook Medical Center replacement facility will be located at the site of the former Georgia Forestry Commission in Adel.

The cost for the new facility is estimated at $40 million, with 70 percent of the funding for construction coming from the Hospital Authority of Tift County through a USDA rural development loan.

The remaining 30 percent will come from the Cook County Board of Commissioners, the City of Adel, the Cook County Economic Development Commission and the Adel Industrial Development Authority.

The 120,000-square-foot facility will offer the same services as the current facility, including acute inpatient care, medical imaging, laboratory services, rehabilitation, endoscopy, a sleep center, geriatric psychiatric care at The Sylvia Barr Center and skilled nursing care at Cook Senior Living.

The facility will have 20 hospital beds and 95 nursing home beds, will add a Convenient Care clinic instead of an ER and will house the current two primary care clinics, Cook Family Wellness and Cook Primary Care.

Additionally the new facility will offer an outpatient surgical suite, with potential surgical specialties including gastroenterology, general surgery, vascular surgery, orthopedics and podiatry.

The ceremony celebrated the start of the prep work and site clearing, with construction expected to be completed in September 2019.

Once completed, the Cook Medical Center is expected to add approximately 50 new jobs.

Tift Regional Health System President and CEO Chris Dorman spoke at the ceremony.

“We appreciate the partnership that has been forged among Cook County, the City of Adel and the economic development commission to make this project a reality,” he said. “Area residents should be extremely proud of the dedication and forethought demonstrated by these local leaders.

“This state-of-the-art facility will provide greater access to care for our community, providing advanced specialists the opportunity to serve this community locally. We will bring the doctors and other providers to Cook County, ultimately minimizing the need for citizens of this community to travel outside the community to access the care they deserve.”

Dorman added that having the medical center open would make Cook County economically healthy by adding jobs and bringing people from other communities to the area.

“It’s all about improving the health and wellness of our community,” he said.

Follow Eve Guevara on Twitter @EveGuevaraTTG.