Annual Report 2001
(text version)
With a reputation as an innovative provider of quality care, Tift Regional Medical Center (TRMC) is a not-for-profit, 191-bed regional hospital serving 12 counties in South Central Georgia. The hospital’s medical staff includes more than 95 physicians with the majority board-certified in over 30 specialties.
Centers of Excellence
Tift Regional provides a wide-range of services, including six Centers of Excellence offering advanced, expert care in oncology, cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, women's health and emergency medicine. A comprehensive day surgery facility has a centralized pre-surgical testing area and its own family waiting area.
Health care leadership you can trust
Tift Regional is under the direction of the Tift County Hospital Authority, a nine-member board of volunteer trustees appointed by the Tift County Board of Commissioners. Though guided by a government-appointed entity, Tift Regional provides charitable care for the community without a single tax levied on local residents. All hospital revenue is totally underwritten by the quality and cost-effective medical services it provides to the region.
Economic impact of a regional medical center
Tift Regional Medical Center (TRMC) contributes over $200 million to the local economy, according to a report released in 2001 by GHA: An Association of Hospitals and Health Systems and the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University. Hospitals and health systems directly employ more than 136,000 people in the state and have a payroll that exceeds $3 billion annually. In addition to Tift Regional Medical Center’s 950 employees, the report credits Georgia hospitals like TRMC with indirectly creating approximately 260,000 full-time jobs through ancillary health services that contract with or provide services to these facilities, such as accountants, food suppliers, and medical equipment suppliers.
Growing to serve you
To meet the growing health care needs of the region, TRMC is currently undergoing a $35 million expansion project on 20th Street to include a new centralized Heart Center, 10 new operating room suites and added space for medical imaging and neurodiagnostic testing. The project is expected to be complete by January 2003.
Radiology adds to cutting-edge arsenal
Tift Regional Medical Center added four new medical imaging tools to its roster of radiology services in 2001, including a mobile P.E.T. Scanner, open MRI, a new high-field strength MRI and a unique screening exam called “Smart Score.”
P.E.T., or Positron Emission Tomography, utilizes the administration of short-lived positron emitters to investigate and evaluate the health and disease of a patient. The P.E.T. scanner generates three-dimensional images of the distribution of the radiopharmaceutical within the body. These P.E.T. images can be used to evaluate a variety of physiologic phenomena such as glucose metabolism, cerebral blood flow, oxygen metabolism and receptor sites.
Patients with diseases such as cancer, epileptic seizures and coronary artery disease can now receive more accurate diagnosis and improved care, with less need for invasive biopsies and fewer surgeries.
TRMC now also offers a fixed-unit open MRI, situated in a convenient and accessible suite located across from the front entrance of the hospital on 18th Street. The open MRI is suitable for small children, larger patients and claustrophobic patients who aren't able to use regular MRI machines. A new full-sized, high-strength MRI is also located in an extended and renovated wing of the Radiology Department.
The prevention of heart attacks takes another step forward with the new Smart Score exam, now in place to check for risks of cardiovascular disease. The screening test, which is quick and painless, checks for calcification of the arteries. Appointments are encouraged, but walk-in patients are accepted. TRMC can't file on a person's insurance for this simple exam, so payment will need to be made at the time of the test.
New advanced procedures
Orthopedic surgeons at Tift Regional now offer a cutting-edge procedure that improves some healing times by as much as 80 percent. Known as bone grafting, the procedure uses the growth factor from platelets in the blood to speed the healing of broken bones that will not mend properly. The growth factor is extracted from blood platelets and applied to the break in the bone. One month of healing with this technique is equal to about six months of regular healing.
Primarily used in melanoma cases, sentinel lymph node biopsy allows TRMC surgeons to take out only part of the lymph node that is affected by cancer-causing drainage. This newer, cutting-edge procedure is normally reserved for larger, academic hospitals.
Endovascular therapy is also being offered at Tift Regional Medical Center by surgeon Dr. Bill Davis. Peripheral vascular disease is caused by blocked blood flow in the arteries of the legs. This condition causes pain, difficulty walking, numbness and skin discoloration and if left untreated, could lead to loss of the leg. Endovascular therapy, a minimally invasive treatment, can open blood flow to the leg.
TRMC babies now have hearing tested
In February 2001, TRMC began checking the hearing of all newborns with equipment funded by Georgia’s tobacco lawsuit settlement. The procedure can tell parents right away if their new child is experiencing any hearing difficulties and if an additional follow-up screening is needed. In the past, many parents did not realize that their newborn had a hearing deficiency until it was too late to try and make a correction. The state estimates that over 300 babies are born each year with hearing problems.
Cancer program celebrates three-year anniversary
Cancer program celebrates three-year anniversary
TRMC opened the Oncology Center in Sept. 1998 to give area cancer patients the option of being treated near home family. Using simulation and computerized treatment planning, radiation oncologist Dr. Wesley Walker and staff utilize photon and electron radiation beam therapy to cure or control malignant growths. The center also offers brachytherapy, a special form of radiation treatment that delivers very high dosages of radiation directly to specific tumor sites.
Dr. James Milner, TRMC’s full-time medical oncologist/hematologist, provides chemotherapy, blood disease studies, mediated hormone treatment and combined cancer therapy. Tift Regional's Medical Oncology Department is located on the first floor of the hospital. TRMC’s other cancer services include oncology surgery, P.E.T. Scan, MRI, Lightspeed CT Scan, mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, a cancer support group and more.
Commitment to the community
Tift Regional Medical Center remains dedicated to boosting the health and wellness of area residents in Tift and 11 surrounding counties. This includes the annual Health Expo held each January; free prostate screenings held in Tifton and Nashville each September; and, free clinical breast exams held in Tifton, Adel, Ashburn and Nashville every October. TRMC also holds numerous health lectures, free flu shots and medical fairs in South Central Georgia throughout the year and is involved in many school programs and community-sponsored events.
Tift Community Health Center in Tifton is available to help area residents manage chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure to maintain good health. To provide cost-effective medical services for business and industry, TRMC offers WorkSmart occupational health clinics in Tifton, Douglas and Ashburn. For outreach in surrounding rural counties, specialists from the TRMC Medical Staff rotate to the HealthPlus clinics in Adel, Ashburn and Nashville to provide evaluation and follow-up exams on a local level. HealthPlus-Ashburn also offers full-time primary care. Coming soon: a new HealthPlus clinic in Sylvester.
New physicians that joined the medical staff in 2001:
Kelly White, MD – Internal Medicine
William Laskowski, MD - Otolaryngology
Jessica Leiden, MD – Pathology
Michael Patterson, MD – Orthopedics/Sports Medicine
Michael Putland, MD – Family Practice
Bridgett Asbury, MD – OB/GYN
Christina Rich, MD – Internal Medicine
Employee excellence award winners for 2001:
Louise Jensen Nursing Excellence Award Winner: Toni Wilson, RN from Ortho/Surgical
Hidden Hero of the Year: Jeanette Weaver from Hospice of Tift Area
Employee of the Year: Desi Tabor from Security
Georgia Physician’s Assistant of the Year: Tom Kraemer, PA of WorkSmart and Tift Community Health Center
TRMC 2001 Annual Report – Financial Summary
Revenue:$156,424,760
Expenses:$163,751,390
Revenue deductions:$74,068,061
(includes charitable/indigent care, writeoffs and adjustments)
Want to learn more about Tift Regional Medical Center? Visit or call 229-556-6318 to have information sent to you free-of-charge.
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