Clinch Memorial Hospital to receive funding for new kid-ready emergency room

HOMERVILLE, Ga. (WALB) - There is a new major medical initiative to help improve pediatric health care in rural Georgia.

Clinch Memorial Hospital is one of eight rural hospitals selected to take part in this. Clinch Memorial Hospital is the smallest facility to be selected to receive funding to help create a kid-ready emergency room. Something the hospital currently does not have.

CEO of Clinch Memorial Hospital Angela Ammons said the opening of the kid-ready emergency room will provide parents with trusted care for their kids and eliminates the 40-mile drive to the nearest pediatrician.

”And we want everyone in the community to be confident whenever they bring their children into the ER, that we can provide the right treatment every time they come in for every incident,” Ammons said.

During Hurricane Irma in 2017, Clinch Memorial Hospital found itself with a premature pediatric baby and no way to warm them. It was this event that made the hospital board push for a pediatric triage.

“We didn’t have a pediatric warmer, we didn’t have access to a pediatrician so they would have to call other surrounding areas to see if they could accept the patients or if there was any guidance if there was on their own that they could handle here,” said Katie Bennett, case manager and former director of nursing.

Not only will part of the funding be used to create a kid-ready ER, but also help train the staff that’s already at Clinch Memorial and to purchase the necessary supplies to ensure better healthcare.

Chairman of the Hospital Authority Board Ellice Martin said the program is designed to last for 10 years, so there’s much work to be done.

“This is just not a one-shot deal where they send you some money and tell you to improve pediatric care. Gov. Kemp’s announcement was that this is over $200 million made available by Children’s Health Care in Atlanta and that this partnership will help. There will be training for individuals here at our hospital to improve their abilities to meet pediatric emergencies. and there will be facilities and materials that will be made available through this grant, it’s just so exciting,” Martin said.

And for those in Clinch County whose passion is working with kids, there is a scholarship opportunity available too.

Ammons said Clinch Memorial’s share of that funding will also go towards students who are in their residence programs studying pediatrics.

“Primarily, one, it’s going to be able or enable us to do is renovate our ER so that it is an ER-kid ready pediatric kid triage area. There will be 10 eligible Mercer University Medical Students who want to specialize in pediatrics who will receive, may receive, will receive tuition-free education in exchange for them serving in a rural area of Georgia for three years and we don’t have a pediatrician so that’s huge for us,” Ammons said.

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