The year 2008 promises to be a busy one for FirstHealth. 

   FirstHealth of the Carolinas is a ­private, non-governmental, not-for-­profit health network that serves a 15-county region.

The cornerstone of the area medical facilities is FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst. It is the flagship hospital for FirstHealth of the Carolinas, the region’s first ­comprehensive health care network.

FirstHealth has reached an ­agreement to purchase property at the Pinehurst RV Park on U.S. 15-501 for the new inpatient Hospice House. The site allows for future growth of the ­program and is convenient to the Moore Regional Hospital campus.

The first phase will include the Hospice facility with 11 inpatient beds, and a free-standing administrative/ bereavement facility. Future plans include a second residence and a ­free-standing bereavement center.

Planning for the FirstHealth Heart Hospital is now being finalized. Demolition of three buildings on the Moore Regional campus (the former Behavioral Services building and two additions to the original 1928 hospital building) to create a footprint for the new facility is set for spring 2008. 

Groundbreaking and the first stages of construction on the 180,000-square-foot, four-story building is scheduled to begin in mid-summer, with occupancy expected by the fall of 2010. 

The Heart Institute coordinates the hospital’s noninvasive cardiac and ­vascular diagnostic services, cardiac catherization, intervention, ­electrophysiology, surgery and a number of additional patient-focused services. 

The new cardiovascular thoracic ­service opened Jan. 2 in space located near the hospital’s Outpatient Center on Page Road, where it will be housed until the opening of the new Heart Hospital. The FirstHealth Cardiovascular and Thoracic Center will provide ­comprehensive care in the surgical treatment of diseases affecting the chest, including the heart, blood vessels, lungs and esophagus. 

The Health and Fitness Center has added its first spa, and has expanded and upgraded its facilities for 2008. Improvements to locker rooms, ­expanded childcare facilities, and new classes for adults and children have been added for 2008.

Also new for 2008, FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital has opened a ­specialized program to treat patients with chronic wounds and sores. Located in the hospital’s Specialty Centers Building at 35 Memorial Drive, the Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center houses two on-site monoplace ­hyperbaric chambers that deliver the high-dose oxygen therapy sometimes used in the treatment of chronic wounds.

In addition to FirstHealth of the Carolinas, numerous clinics, most ­located near the hospital campus, offer a wide range of specialties, including open-heart surgery, neurosurgery, bariatric surgery, neonatology and ­oncology.

The hospital offers a broad range of behavioral services, including inpatient and outpatient care; women’s and ­children’s services, including a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit; and comprehensive surgical, internal medicine, emergency and rehabilitative care.  

Moore Regional handles more than 14,000 admissions, treats 50,000 ­outpatients and provides emergency care for more than 57,000 patients.

FirstHealth also has a health plan and a critical care transport service, EMS and medical transport services as well as charitable foundations, Hospice, home health services, sleep disorder centers, six fitness centers and an in-house ­laundry, among many other offerings.

For more information about FirstHealth and the services offered, visit its Web site at www.firsthealth.org.