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Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Decatur County and MHM Celebrate One Year of Free Books

More than 400 children in Decatur County are receiving free books in the mail each month thanks to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Decatur County.

In April 2022, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Decatur County in partnership with Memorial Hospital and Manor and Decatur County Family Connection launched a free book gifting program. Since the launch more than 200 babies delivered at Memorial received their first book and registered for the program before they left the hospital. Each of these babies receive a free book in the mail each month until that child turns 5. The free books are offered to all children under five in Decatur County, regardless of family income.

The first Decatur County baby registered for DPIL at Memorial Hospital, Blakely Palmer just celebrated her first birthday. When Blakely was born, her parents, Justin and Samantha Palmer, signed up Blakely and her older brother Knox for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Samantha  says, “It is very exciting every month to receive a book for each of my kids. All of the books we have received have been age appropriate and some even go with the season or holiday that is approaching. Being a teacher, literacy is important to me and it makes me happy to see my kids excited about getting new books. We have loved every book given and I can’t wait to see all of the others that are mailed.” Blakely and Knox each received 12 books this year from DPIL.

Hospital staff are also excited about the program. Labor Delivery Nurse Manager Judy Godwin says, “I love this idea because I love to read, and I have grandchildren who love to read.  The children benefit whether they are being read to or reading it themselves.” Memorial Labor/Delivery nurses make sure that each family knows about the program, helps to get the baby registered, and gives the family the baby’s first book, The Little Engine that Could.

While newborns and their siblings are registered at MHM, the program is open to all Decatur County children up to age five. All children are eligible to register with DPIL and receive books until their fifth birthday by visiting https://link.zixcentral.com/u/19871742/uIftJcDt7RGiHnBOg-oQLQ?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimaginationlibrary.com%2Fcheck-availability%2F

About Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library

Since launching in 1995, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library has become the preeminent early childhood book-gifting program in the world. The flagship program of The Dollywood Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has gifted over 200 million free books in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and The Republic of Ireland. This is achieved through funding shared by The Dollywood Foundation and Local Program Partners.  The Imagination Library mails more than 2 million high-quality, age-appropriate books each month to enrolled  children from birth to age five. Dolly envisioned creating a lifelong love of reading and inspiring children to Dream More, Learn More, Care More and Be More.

The program has been widely researched and results demonstrate its positive impact on early childhood development and literacy skills. Penguin Random House is the exclusive publisher for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. For more information, please visit imaginationlibrary.com.

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Bank OZK $100,000 GA Heart Contribution

We are pleased to announce Bank OZK has given a $100,000 contribution to Memorial Hospital and Manor through the Georgia HEART Tax Credit Program. This brings the total donated since 2018 by Bank OZK to our hospital to $430,000.
“Bank OZK is committed to the communities it serves and the financial health of our neighbors in Bainbridge,” said Tori Haack, President of Commercial Banking for East Georgia. “A strong community is also dependent on convenient access to quality healthcare services, and Bank OZK is proud to support Memorial Hospital and Manor with a contribution for the sixth consecutive year.”
“Bank OZK has gone above and beyond again this year blessing us through the Georgia Heart Tax Credit Program. They have been long time partners with our hospital and their continued support shows how important they believe having access to a full service hospital is to our rural community. Because of the generous donations through this program, we will be able to make needed equipment purchases and building upgrades.” Jamie Sinko, Director of Development.
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DAISY Award Honoree – Sheryl Patten

Congratulations to Sheryl Patten, our DAISY Award Honoree for 1st Qtr 2023!! The following is one of the write ups we received from a patient regarding their care by Sheryl in our Labor and Delivery Department. “Wow, what can we say about Sheryl. As first time parents she made us feel loved, like we mattered, not just a patient. She made us feel like family right as we got here. We felt comfortable and she went out of her way to make our stay memorable. She is right where she belongs, in Labor and Delivery. So many other nurses were wonderful to us as well, but Sheryl was outstanding and beyond compassionate to me, as well as Dr. Friedman too. Please show her our love and let her know how special she is here.”

Sheryl – Thank you for all you do for each of our patients and making them feel like family while they are with us! Congratulations!

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New Director of Quality, Compliance, and Risk

New Director of Quality, Compliance, and Risk

It is our pleasure to announce that Julia Brantley has accepted the position of Director of Quality, Compliance and Risk here at Memorial Hospital and Manor. Julia has her Master of Science in Quality Assurance, has served as the Quality Compliance Coordinator, and has worked in the Quality Department since joining the hospital in October of 2017.  Julia was selected from a strong list of candidates, both internal and external.  She has done an outstanding job in her role in assisting in our efforts to improve our patient and customer satisfaction.  She has been instrumental in supporting all departments before, during and after our DNV surveys and accreditation visits.  She developed strong relationships throughout the organization in support of performance improvement initiatives which have resulted in improvements throughout the organization.

Please join us in congratulating Julia on her new role.  I’m confident she will help us continue to grow and improve.

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First Port City Bank GA Heart Contribution

Memorial Hospital and Manor is very appreciative of First Port City Bank’s continued generosity through the Georgia Heart Tax Credit Program. This year they dedicated $100,000 dollars of their state taxes directly to our hospital through this program. First Port City Bank has been a consistent yearly community partner with us and has donated a total of $436,207 dollars to MHM since 2019. Their decision to keep their tax dollars at work in our local economy and directly serving our community through MHM has directly impacted our facility, equipment, staff, and patients. Jim Lambert, CEO, stated, “I extend my deepest appreciation and thanks to First Port City Bank for not only this contribution, but also for their continued partnership and support throughout the years.” Scott Ewing, President of First Port City Bank, commented, “I am proud that my team is able to provide this donation as it is a reflection of our community’s investment and trust in us as a banking partner, and in return we are able to reinvest into the local community.”

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eICU services expand to Memorial Hospital

EMORY Health Sciences News

http://emoryhealthsciences.org

Feb. 21, 2023

Emory eICU services expand to two South Georgia hospitals for remote monitoring of critical care patients

Media Contacts:

Janet Christenbury, Emory Healthcare, [email protected]

Jamie Sinko, Memorial Hospital and Manor, [email protected]

Sarah Brown, Coffee Regional Medical Center, [email protected]

 

ATLANTA – Critical care patients at Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge, Georgia, and Coffee Regional Medical Center in Douglas, Georgia, are receiving access to additional care and remote monitoring through Emory Healthcare’s eICU (electronic Intensive Care Unit) services, based in Atlanta. The Georgia Department of Community Health awarded each regional/community hospital $450,000 to support this initiative and to purchase needed equipment and set-up eICU services between each hospital and Emory.

 

From the Emory eICU Center, located at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital campus in Atlanta, Emory eICU physicians and nurses monitor ICU patients at Memorial Hospital and Manor and Coffee Regional Medical Center remotely, while providing consultation and expertise. The services are a form of telemedicine, using state-of-the-art technology to provide an additional layer of critical care for ICU patients. The continuous, 24/7 monitoring and access to intensivist or critical care physicians and other support staff, particularly on night and weekend shifts, are crucial to smaller regional and community hospitals.

 

“During night and weekend shifts at smaller outlying hospitals, intensivists may not always be present to assist onsite physicians and providers, so additional resources are often needed to care for some of the sickest patients in a hospital,” says Cheryl Hiddleson, MSN, RN, Emory Healthcare Director of eICU Operations. “Our services provide consult via a video and audio platform to onsite physicians, staff and patients, where we can see and communicate bi-directionally between the regional or community hospital and the Emory eICU Center in Atlanta.”

 

Dean Burke, MD, former Georgia State Senator from District 11 and former chief medical officer at Memorial Hospital and Manor states, “This collaboration between Emory and rural hospitals is critical to providing needed intensive care services in these rural communities. The recent pandemic showed policy makers the importance of high-level critical care services being provided locally when regional systems were filled beyond capacity. This eICU grant program will support the rural hospital in a sound fiscal manner while providing needed high level critical care access close to home.”

 

Memorial Hospital and Manor has six medical/surgical ICU beds that are being monitored remotely by Emory’s eICU Center, while Coffee Regional Medical Center has 10 medical/surgical ICU beds being monitored remotely.

 

“We are excited to be collaborating with Emory Healthcare for their remote ICU monitoring service funded by a grant through the Department of Community Health,” says Jim Lambert, CEO of Memorial Hospital and Manor. “We feel this service will complement the great care our team provides every day and will allow us to keep more critical patients close to home and family.”

 

“As an affiliate of Emory Healthcare, we are happy to be part of the Emory eICU network,” says Vicki Lewis, CEO of Coffee Regional Medical Center. “This important service provides an extra set of eyes and additional clinical expertise for our critically ill patients. Our collaboration with Emory permits Coffee Regional Medical Center access to both quality initiatives and state-of-the-art resources for our patients and caregivers.”

 

Emory eICU Center also provides remote critical care monitoring services to Washington County Regional Medical Center in Sandersville, Georgia.

 

About Memorial Hospital and Manor:

Memorial Hospital & Manor in Bainbridge, Georgia, has served the health care needs of Decatur County and surrounding communities for almost 60 years. The 80-bed community hospital and 107-bed long-term care facility, along with Willow Ridge, a 22-bed personal care facility, is owned and operated by the Hospital Authority of the City of Bainbridge and Decatur County. The service area includes Decatur, Seminole, Miller, Grady and Mitchell counties with a service area of over 50,000 residents. The mission of Memorial Hospital and Manor is to deliver courteous, respectful, safe and quality care to every patient, every time. Throughout its history Memorial Hospital has been committed to improving the health of the community through services such as Primary Care, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, Optometry, General Surgery, along with Orthopedic Surgery. We have a nine-bed Emergency Department staffed 24 hours per day with dedicated physicians, which see over 12,000 visits per year, and a 10-bed ICU department. The hospital employs approximately 450 employees to provide these services and is one of the largest employers in the county.

 

About Coffee Regional Medical Center:

Coffee Regional Medical Center, Inc., is a non-profit, acute care 98-bed hospital, in Douglas, Georgia. The current facility opened in July 1998, replacing the original building constructed in 1953. The 200,000 square foot hospital is designed with inpatient adult and pediatric beds, expanded outpatient service areas, including interventional cardiology and hematology and oncology infusion services to assure exceptional care and wellness close to home. The Medical Staff membership includes anesthesiology, bariatrics, cardiology, emergency medicine, ENT, family practice, general surgery, GI, hematology, internal medicine, interventional cardiology, nephrology, neurology, OB/GYN, oncology/hematology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pain management, pathology, pediatrics, podiatry, pulmonology, radiology, urology and wound care. Serving Coffee and surrounding counties since 1953, we have become an integral part of the fabric of our community as well as a major contributor to the economic health of Douglas, Georgia. To learn more, visit www.coffeeregional.org/

 

About Emory Healthcare:

Emory Healthcare, with nearly 24,000 employees and 11 hospitals, is the most comprehensive academic health system in Georgia. System-wide, it has 2,796 licensed patient beds, more than 3,300 physicians practicing in more than 70 specialties, serving metro Atlanta with 250 locations. It also provides services to greater Georgia through a joint venture at St. Francis–Emory Healthcare Hospital in Columbus, 10 regional affiliate hospitals, and its clinically integrated physician network.

 

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Community Health Fair planned for May 3, 2023

Memorial Hospital and Manor is proud to be a part of the community it serves.  We appreciate our patients and their families, and are thankful for their support and loyalty to our employees and facility.  All of us at Memorial Hospital and Manor care about you and your health, and desire to ensure that your life is filled with health and happiness.   Our patients and families are at the heart of everything that we do, and we are committed to improving the health of our community.

To give back to our community and say THANK YOU to our patients and their families, we will host a FREE Community Health Fair on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at Southern Regional Technical College Bainbridge Campus 7:00 AM – 12:00 PM. (Kirbo Center)

 

 Please PRE-REGISTER

It saves time and makes things easier and faster.  You can download the Pre-registration form below clicking  hereor picking up a form from the Registration desks in the front of the hospital or Emergency Department.  Return your completed form by fax to 229-243-3340, via email to [email protected], or you can drop off your form to the front of the hospital or the Emergency Department

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Daisy Award Recipient

Congratulations to our Daisy Award Winner, Oleatha Kegler! Oleatha works in our Labor and Delivery department and has been a team member with us serving our community for 34 years. She was nominated by a family member of a patient who stated she is “a superstar for your hospital” and “she made sure all the patient’s needs were met and well taken care of” throughout the stay. Thank you, Oleatha, for taking care of our patients like family!

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2023 First New Born at MHM

Kayla Natalie Martinez entered the world at 1:33 A.M. on January 1, 2023, and claimed the title of the Memorial Hospital and Manor New Year’s Baby. Natalie, weighing 7 pounds, 9 ounces, was born to proud parents Natalia Chavez Lopez and Cayetano Martinez.

Donations were provided by Southwest Georgia Oil/Inland, Bainbridge Pharmacy, Memorial Hospital & Manor, and Labor and Delivery staff.

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Covid-19 Vaccination Plan and Updated Community Info

Memorial Hospital and Manor is here to provide you with an opportunity to receive your vaccination on Wednesday afternoons from 2-4pm.  We are currently offering the Moderna vaccination only.  Our clinic does not require an appointment and you may enter through Patient Access at the front doors of our main lobby and stop at the registration desk.  We strongly encourage you to vaccinate.  All visitors need to be screened at entrance and will be required to wear a mask.
Covid-19 Vaccination Plan 
 Currently the following groups are eligible for the COVID vaccine in Georgia:
  • Adults aged 18 and over are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination.
  • If you are immunocompromised and would like to schedule a third dose of the Moderna COVID vaccine please bring a letter from your healthcare provider stating your personal healthcare issues.
  • MHM is administering the Moderna vaccination on Wednesdays from 2-4pm.  No appointment necessary.  Please enter through the main lobby entrance.

Preoperative patients and asymptomatic/exposure only patients needing COVID-19 PCR testing will continue to be registered & collected in the outpatient collection area inside the hospital along with any other lab work ordered on Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 4 PM.  Out-patient preoperative cases for asymptomatic COVID-19 PCR testing can be collected after hours for surgery cases by contacting the lab to set up an appointment and coming inside & registering through the Emergency Room in the event the surgery should occur the next day.

Testing continues to be available through the local Health Department Region 8-2, 6 days a week.  No order is required and testing is free.  Appointments can be made by calling 229-352-6567.  The COVID collection schedule is also available online at http://southwestgeorgiapublichealth.org,

Monoclonal Antibodies or Convalescent Plasma

What if you received passive antibody therapy for Covid-19 treatment?

  • Defer vaccination for at least 90 days after receipt of passive antibody therapy (monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma).  This recommendation applies to people who receive passive antibody therapy before receiving any Covid-19 vaccine dose and to those who receive passive antibody therapy after the first dose of a mRNA Covid-19 vaccine (Moderna or Pfizer) but before the second dose, in which case the second dose should be deferred for at least 90 days following receipt of the antibody therapy.