Forrest City Medical Center opened the doors to its newest addition, the renovated emergency department, and celebrated 50 years in Forrest City with an open house on Thursday.

The festivities began with a reception and included a day of tours of the new department, along with the new Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Computerized Tomography machines. According to Brett Kinman, Chief Executive Officer with FCMC, the unveiling of the emergency department was a day officials with the hospital have long looked forward to.

"From the first day that I walked into this hospital, this is the day that I've looked forward to. Not only are we celebrating the opening of the emergency department, we're also celebrating the hospital's 50th year in Forrest City. We've come a long way in 50 years and through it all — changes in the name, different owners and even a couple of different locations — we've always provided excellent health care to the citizens of this community. We're at 50 years, we're still growing and we still have that same goal," said Kinman.

The new emergency department was expanded from 1,700 square feet to around 6,500 square feet and now has 10 private treatment rooms which was increased from six rooms, none of which were private.