BLOWING ROCK  --  North Carolina Transportation Secretary Nick Tennyson participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony today to celebrate the opening of the Appalachian Regional Healthcare System’s Foley Center at Chestnut Ridge, a new post-acute care center located in Blowing Rock. The Department of Transportation supported the center by constructing a new road and bridge into the facility from U.S. 321 earlier this year. “This is a great day for western North Carolina’s economy, health care and overall quality of life,” Governor Pat McCrory said in a press relase. “The Foley Center will help fulfill two of our team’s central philosophies: to get people back to work and help those who can’t help themselves while encouraging those who can.”

The Foley Center will replace the Blowing Rock & Davant Extended Care Center (formerly Blowing Rock Hospital), supporting 110 jobs from the previous facility and adding 59 new jobs. This new 112-bed health care facility aims to improve the quality of care patients receive while reducing costs by limiting the time patients need to spend in an acute care setting and avoiding unnecessary hospital readmissions.

Earlier this year, the Department of Transportation completed a new half-mile access road and bridge leading to the facility. In June, the new bridge was named for local community leaders Reba and Grady Moretz Jr.

In addition to the bridge, the Foley Center will benefit from the new Middle Fork Greenway Governor McCrory announced last month to provide a right of way at Chestnut Ridge alongside the Middle Fork Creek in order to build the new hiking and biking trail between Boone and Blowing Rock.

“Building roads and bridges allows us to provide citizens access to critical destinations and services, including high-quality health care,” Secretary Tennyson said. “I was proud to be a part of the bridge-naming ceremony and I am even more excited to play a role in opening this facility, which I know will strengthen this region in so many ways.”

This project is part of the Governor’s 25-Year Transportation Vision to enhance travel safety and to better connect all North Carolinians to health care, jobs, education and recreation opportunities.