The Surgery Center of Pine-hurst hosted an open house Aug. 13.

The event featured physician spokesperson, Dr. Michael Bartiss, Administrator Tracey Harbour and patient representative Virginia Fallon. Attendees toured the facility and learned more about the services offered, as well as benefits to the community.

The Surgery Center of Pinehurst open house was held on the same day as other ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) across the country.

National ASC Open House Day was developed to help people learn more about ambulatory surgery and the quality, cost-effective care ASCs provide.

ASCs are facilities where the surgeries do not require a hospital admission. Patients who elect to have surgery in an ASC arrive on the day of their procedure, have the surgery in a state-of-the art operating room and recover under the care of the facility's highly skilled nursing staff.

Patients and their families, ranging from infants to the elderly, benefit from the full range of care provided in the ASC environment, a spokesman said.

"This year, more than 20 million surgical procedures will be performed in an ASC and yet many people still know very little about the services ASCs provide," said Kathy Bryant, president of the ASC association. "We hope everyone who attends an open house this year will learn something new about ASCs and go home with the comfort of knowing ASCs are here when you need us."