Tuscaloosa’s DCH to End 28-Room Hotel Program for Patients & Loved Ones

Tuscaloosa's DCH Regional Medical Center will soon end a program that provides patients and loved ones with an affordable place to stay before or during hospitalization.

In a memo published earlier this month, hospital administrators alerted staff that DCH will end its Guest Room Program on September 1st and begin repurposing the 28 rooms dedicated to it.

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The program, uncommon in hospitals, offered on-site accommodations for patients and families visiting any DCH facility.

Someone with an early-morning procedure scheduled could stay overnight or save travel time on any multi-day series of treatments or procedures by booking one of the rooms offered on the third floor of DCH Medical Tower I.

The program is also popular with those seeking cancer treatments and families with babies in the NICU.

The rooms, in single and double configurations, offer guests hotel essentials including a fridge, phone and coffee maker, with Cable TV in each room.

Rick Plummer, the Vice President of Marketing for the DCH Health System, told the Thread that the hotel program was underutilized.

"The hotel space is not routinely utilized, and we know that space can be more efficiently used by expanding outpatient clinical services," he said. "Hotel space isn’t a service that hospitals typically provide. While we know it will be an adjustment for some, we are confident the change will help DCH better meet the growing medical needs of the communities we serve."

The program comes to an end on September 1st.

For more coverage of news in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.