Gardendale Surgical Associates LLC is planning to double its patient capacity in as few as 60 days.

The State Health Planning and Development Agency has approved the facility’s request to add two operating rooms and a procedure room, to add to the existing two operating rooms and procedure room.

“We’re excited about the chance to grow,” said Lee Stubbs, Gardendale Surgical Associates (GSA) clinical director. “We’re looking forward to being able to serve the north Jefferson and Blount County area better.”

GSA provides outpatient surgery such as colonoscopies, endoscopies, pain blocks, cataracts, and orthopedic, gynecological, colo-rectal and general procedures, according to Stubbs. It will offer the same types of services after the expansion.

“Everything patients could get at a hospital as an outpatient service, we offer here,” said Stubbs

No construction will be required for the addition; the new operating rooms and procedure room are already in place.

“The rooms are already constructed,” said GSA Chief Operating Officer Mike Rickman. They were included in the existing building. He said the rooms have been used for storage until it was time for the center to grow.

Within the past year, GSA served 1,600 patients.

“It will take us a little time to build our volume, but doubling our size would allow us to double our cases, in theory,” Stubbs said. “We would love to be doing 400 cases a month.”

Rickman said the facility still has to go through a licensure process in order to get the state license. He said the process would likely take about 30 days, and that it would take 30-60 days to get the rooms equipped.

Stubbs said the expansion will keep more people from driving to Birmingham for outpatient procedures.

“We try to keep it very convenient, very simple, to help patients,” he said.

“We’re working to keep patients in Gardendale so they don’t have to drive downtown,” said Rickman. “If I’m a patient living in Gardendale, it’s great news.”

Rickman said the expansion is also good news for health care workers; he said GSA would likely add 10 positions. Stubbs said the facility would likely try to hire health care workers who live locally.

Rickman said the expanded business will help the city in another way as well.

“We’re in the city limits of Gardendale, so we have a Gardendale business license,” he said. “The better we do, the better for Gardendale.”

Stubbs said the facility is able to expand because of the support of the community.

“That’s a lot of people telling their physicians they want to use our facility” Stubbs said. “We appreciate that.”