The Fairfax Community Hospital has opened an expansion that comes after it nearly closed and staff worked without pay for a time. A new owner, Dr. Elizabeth Pusey, is credited with making new investments in the facility and staff.

Dr. James Graham, a physician in Fairfax, said "We have big town facilities. She's bought new CT scanners. We have MRI services now, we're getting cardiology, and a new clinic, and we're growing with that. It's amazing what you can do when you get people working together."

The new wing on the hospital adds six beds, but the investment adds much more - $5 million dollars worth of new equipment, including a lift that can move immobilized patients, and all 25 rooms have new "smart beds" that help monitor patients. Dr. Graham says since the new beds went into use, they're not had a single patient fall.

In years past, critical patients were often transported out to larger hospitals for care, but now the new management team believes they have the staff and equipment in place to treat most local patients and bring in others. Jeff Hill, with Avem Health Partners, said "We're able to focus on a larger market, with more available patients, and bring some of those patients here to Fairfax for care."