Cook Co. hospital recognized for outstanding patient experience

ADEL, Ga. (WALB) - A small rural hospital in Cook County has been recognized as a leader in the healthcare industry.

Southwell Medical in Adel is gaining attention for its outstanding patient care. The hospital opened its doors in 2019. Now, almost five years later, the medical center that sits just off of I-75 South, is in the top 5% in the country for the overall satisfaction of patient care received.

Press Ganey presented the award, with the medical center receiving the “Guardians of Excellence Award.”

Southwell has put emphasis on growing their outpatient surgery volume since opening day, and Chief Operating Officer Jay Carmichael says the team has been instrumental in leading the charge and providing exceptional patient care. He believes this award has proved that.

“So that’s pretty impressive when you think about all the hospitals, and all the ambulatory surgery centers across the country,” Carmichael said. “We’re in the top 5%, and there’s hundreds of thousands. So I’m very proud of our team for receiving this award.”

Nurse Manager Leigh McCabe says she always knew her team gave patients outstanding care, but they couldn’t have done it without their patients.

“We do have a lot of patients that come through here for us to be consistently above 95% in the survey, and that’s what they recognized us for a solid year. And that speaks volumes for the care we deliver here,” McCabe said. “We are a rural city, and we pull from the surrounding counties. I mean we’ve had people from as far as Douglas, Florida. We really went outside of our borders. Our patients come from all over, so we’re glad that they chose us to be their provider.”

Gastroenterologist Dr. Eric Ward says he joined the Southwell team in 2020. He says patients have expressed to him that they love the efficiency of the hospital.

“Patients have really minimal waits. Everything is very streamlined. They have a great system here. It doesn’t take long to get them in, so they can spend their time getting the services they need instead of sitting in the waiting room and waiting for everybody. So we have plenty of time to focus on the patient’s needs where they’re not waiting around not getting anything done,” Ward said.

The Southwell Medical team says it’s the quick turnaround and the medical team treating patients as family that has contributed to their success.

“The physicians, the nurses, the techs, they all have this personal connection and want to treat you like you’re family,” Carmichael said.

“To have that recognition, everyone here has worked really hard. They deserve it very much because everyone works really hard to provide the highest quality medical care for our patients, and to make sure everybody gets the best possible medical experience,” Dr. Ward said.

And McCabe says she feels honored.

“To be recognized by the patients is really an honor. We’ve really grown here in the past since we’ve opened in 2019. And you know, we’ve really made great strides in taking care of our patients, and making sure they are satisfied with their care.”

The team at Southwell Medical says their mission is to give patients the best care all the time, every day, and that the next step in their advancement is expansion.

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