Challenges And Successes: Atlanta Conference Looks At Rural Health Care

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May 8th, 2019

Financial problems have led seven rural Georgia hospitals to close since 2010. In addition, large areas of rural Georgia struggle with a scarcity of physicians, notably OB-GYNs and pediatricians. Many parts of rural Georgia lack mental health providers as well.

David Goldman / Associated Press file

Two years ago, Angela Ammons faced a daunting challenge as the new CEO of Clinch Memorial Hospital in Homerville, in South Georgia.

It was the RN’s first job as a hospital administrator. The “critical access’’ 25-bed hospital had just three days’ cash on hand, and the predictions were that it would join the ranks of Georgia rural hospitals that had closed.

If the nonprofit facility had folded, the local economy would have collapsed along with it.

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