MOULTRIE — The Colquitt Regional Medical Center hosted a groundbreaking for its new educational services building Monday morning.

“This is a big day for us. We’ve been planning this day for at least four to five years. It all started when we started our Georgia South Family Medicine Residency Program. We started back in 2015…graduated three or four classes. We’ve outgrown the existing space,” CRMC CEO Jim Matney said during the opening ceremony.

The building was named the Ameris Bank Medical Education Building to honor the local partnership and $2.5 million contributing to CRMC by Ameris Bank.

Construction workers from Brasfield and Gorrie were already working on site at the event.

Matney said they opted to fund the project the “non-traditional way” by considering local banks instead of financing with bonds.

“I speak on behalf of the Hospital Authority. We appreciate our partnership that we have With Ameris bank, and you’ve always been there to help us out to look at projects before we start, and it’s just one of them,” he said.

Ameris Bank Chief Executive Officer Palmer Proctor Jr. also spoke during the opening ceremony.

Proctor said, “When you look at the backbone of Ameris Bank, it’s all about relationships, partnerships and the communities in which we serve, so this fits right into what we like to do. These investments are meaningful.”

The project is funded through the Georgia Heart Hospital Program, which allows Ameris Bank to allocate and reallocate its tax dollars.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing how this partnership plays out not only in the community, but helping them with the medical professionals here too,” Proctor added.

The building will have two floors and will have more than 39,000 feet square feet. The first floor will have an Education wing and an auditorium for the CRMC. Nursing staff will get hands-on experiences at the new facility in the four simulation centers. The second floor will house the Georgia South Family Medicine and Psychiatric residency programs.

Members of the Colquitt County Hospital Authority, Colquitt Regional hospital administration, Colquitt Regional Foundation board, faculty of Georgia South Graduate Medical Education and representatives of Ameris Bank were present at the groundbreaking.

Vice President of Medical Education Jessica Rivenbark said they have been building capacity for medical education in Moultrie and Southwest Georgia for the last decade.

“Education is the tide that raises all boats, so having a center on campus allows us the ability to train nurses and physicians in professional development,” she said in an interview after the ceremony.

The addition of simulation centers will improve patient safety and outcomes.

Rivenbark said, “The more you repeat something, the more you practice it, the better you are at it. This gives us the ability to do that.”

CRMC hopes the building will be completed by the summer of 2023, but the exact opening date is not for certain at this time, according to CRMC Assistant Marketing Director Jordan Hammack.

The opening date will be determined once the building is completed.

The Ameris Bank Medical Educational Building will be located on the northern part of the CRMC campus.