PICKENS — Beginning this week, AnMed Health is bringing surgeons from Piedmont Surgical Associates to Cannon Memorial Hospital in Pickens to practice.

AnMed Health is working to ensure that Cannon Memorial Hospital is in a position to provide quality services consistent with a hospital of its size. Within its population, Pickens is seeing a growing need for specialty services. Piedmont Surgical Associates will provide new technology, along with minimally invasive and advanced laparoscopic procedures.

“We are proud to be involved in bringing a general surgery practice with a history of excellent surgical outcomes and patient satisfaction from Anderson to the residents of Pickens County,” said Garrick Chidester, AnMed Health executive vice president of Network Operations and Affiliated Services.

The primary surgeon serving the Pickens community will be Dr. Peter J. Bechtel, a graduate of Florida State University College of Medicine. He completed his residency at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa.

The current surgeons at Cannon Memorial are excited to have their new colleagues in the community. Dr. Bechtel and the seven other surgeons of Piedmont Surgical Associates (doctors William S. Buice, James G. Foster, III, Paul M. Frassinelli, T. Steve McElveen, David W. Strathern, James Porter Stokes, III, and Adam H. Beall) will provide endoscopy, breast, laparoscopic, endocrine, thoracic, and bariatric surgeries.

Also, beginning May 19, at 6 p.m. in the Acker Board Room at Cannon Memorial, Dr. Bechtel will host free bariatric surgery seminars every third Monday of each month.

“On behalf of Cannon Surgical, I would like to personally welcome the Piedmont Surgical group to Cannon Memorial Hospital and look forward to working with them to provide advanced surgical care to our people in Pickens,” Dr. Jim Mahanes of Cannon Surgical said.

According to Cannon President and CEO Norman G. Rentz, the introduction of the surgeons to the Pickens community continues the long history of providing quality healthcare services to the patients in Pickens County.

“Cannon wants to continue to provide options for patients to obtain their surgical services locally,” Rentz said. “We appreciate the work that AnMed Health and Piedmont Surgical are doing to expand the choices our patients have. Their quality services and great outcomes make them a perfect fit for our community.”

Dr. Bechtel and Piedmont Surgical Associates will be located at Cannon Family Practice Pickens, adjacent to Cannon Memorial Hospital. Their office hours will be Monday, 1:30 p.m. until 5 p.m.; Wednesday, 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.; and Friday, 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. The surgeons may be reached at 864-878-8104.

Cannon Memorial Hospital is integrated into the AnMed Health system. However, Cannon remains its own entity — a not-for-profit corporation — and continues to be governed by a separate board of trustees.

Cannon Memorial Hospital started in 1947 as a three-room clinic, and now stands as a modern 55-bed facility with over 60 staff physicians. Services provided by Cannon include inpatient and outpatient services, a critical care unit, a 24 hour Emergency Department, nuclear medicine, radiology, laboratory, physical therapy, sleep clinic, and wellness programs. For more information about Cannon Memorial Hospital, go online to www.CannonHospital.org.

AnMed Health is a 690-bed, not-for-profit health system serving the Upstate and northeast Georgia. The system is anchored by AnMed Health Medical Center, a 461-bed acute care hospital. AnMed Health also has a satellite North Campus which includes the AnMed Health Women’s and Children’s Hospital, the AnMed Health Rehabilitation Hospital, a comprehensive Cancer Center, physician offices and the Cardiac and Orthopedic Center. The health system’s network also includes affiliations with Cannon Memorial Hospital in Pickens, Elbert Memorial Hospital in Elberton, Ga., and Carolinas HealthCare System in Charlotte. With roughly 500 physicians and more than 3,600 employees, AnMed Health is Anderson County’s largest employer. Learn more online at www.AnMedHealth.org.