The Augusta region has one of the largest concentrations of medical care, education and research in the Southeast. By many standards, Augusta is considered to have the lowest doctor to patient ratio in the whole country, which is estimated to be 640:1. Ten regional hospitals, including the Eisenhower Army Medical Center and the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, provide patients from around the world with excellence in medical care. Visitors to Augusta will immediately recognize the vast expanse of care when they enter downtown’s medical campus. Four of Augusta’s major medical institutions, University Health System, Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, and Georgia Health Sciences University’s companion hospitals, Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center and Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center, are situated within a tight radius. Augusta’s medical community reaches beyond the downtown environs, however. Doctors Hospital of Augusta and Trinity Hospital of Augusta also contribute to placing Augusta at the center of the Southeast in terms of medical care.
These facilities nicely complement each other in the services they provide health-care consumers. Unique to Augusta is University Health Care System’s Breast Health Center and mobile mammography unit, an important component of preventative care and early detection. In fact, University Hospital is the only hospital in Georgia whose cancer program has earned the Outstanding Achievement Award. At the same time, Georgia Health Sciences Health System’s outpatient cancer facility, which was completed in 2009 and welcomed its first patients in January 2010, speeds the latest methods and technologies from the lab bench to the bedside. Designed in conjunction with a team of patient advisors, the centralized, modern facility features a rooftop garden, café and meditation area in addition to the traditional amenities. Initiatives like these put Augusta on the cutting edge of patient-centered cancer care.
Augusta’s medical corridor is also an important player in providing top-notch trauma care. The Joseph M Still Burn Centers, Inc., located on the campus of Doctors Hospital, and the Specialized Care Center, which houses a 13-county regional Level I trauma center, located on the campus of Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center, serve not only area residents, but also patients from outside of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) who are brought to these centers to receive specialized care. The Joseph M. Still Burn Center admits about 3,000 patients to its 70-bed center from around the Southeast annually and has one of the most experienced burn center staffs in the country. For over 30 years it has developed national recognition as a leader in burn research and treatment, and in 2010 the American College of Surgeons and the American Burn Association verified the Joseph M Still Burn Center a Burn Center of Excellence, making it the only verified burn center in the state of Georgia.
Likewise, the Georgia Health Sciences Medical Center Level 1 Trauma Center, a 12-bed shock/trauma intensive care unit and specialized trauma resuscitation area, was the first level 1 trauma center established in Georgia. More than 1200 trauma victims receive care there each year. The emergency helicopter transport team enables swift treatment of patients with traumatic critical care injures. Also with ground and air trauma transport teams, the Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center houses a Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center.
Furthermore, in 2009, the highly regarded University Health Care System, featuring the 581-bed University Hospital with specialty centers that include renowned heart and vascular services, cancer care and women’s health, concluded its $93.6 million renovation and expansion project with the opening of a 188,000-square foot Heart and Vascular Institute that consolidates all state-of-the-art heart and vascular diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care under one roof. University Hospital, the oldest hospital in Augusta and the second oldest in the state of Georgia, is also an accredited Chest Pain Center with a medical staff of more than 600 primary care physicians and specialists providing everything from preventive to emergency care.
In addition to comprehensive trauma and heart health care, patients can receive rehabilitation services in Augusta. Walton Rehabilitation Hospital serves adults and adolescents recovering from stroke, head injuries, spinal injuries, orthopedic injuries, amputation and chronic pain through in-patient and out-patient programs. In fact, Walton Rehabilitation Hospital is the only provider of comprehensive, specialized physical medicine and rehabilitation in the CSRA. Trinity Hospital of Augusta, the area’s only faith-based hospital, also meets rehabilitation needs in the community. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy are offered as out-patient services, in addition to a center for disorders of gait, balance and mobility. Finally, the National Healing Corporation Wound Healing Center also provides out-patient services.
Retirement complexes, assisted living centers, and complete-care nursing facilities are also available in the community. Walton West Transitional Living Center, a division of Walton Rehabilitation Health System, supports brain-injury clients in regaining their independence. Walton’s Harison Heights Assisted and Independent Living Centers and Walton’s Independent Living Communities are designed to serve older adults and people with disabilities. They round out the continuum of care offered by Walton Rehabilitation Health System. Similarly University Health’s Brandon Wilde Life Care Community offers assisted living within a retirement community that provides relevant services to the older adult at every level of need, from independent living to nursing care.
Augusta boasts a wide range of other medical services from the Georgia Health Sciences Ambulatory Care Center, with more than 80 outpatient practice sites in one convenient setting, to University’s prompt care facilities, which provide urgent, but non-emergency, care to walk-in patients. Trinity Hospital is home to the ASMBS Bariatric (weight loss) Surgery Center of Excellence and a Family Focused Childbirth Unit. The Georgia Health Sciences Sports Medicine Center not only treats sports-related injuries, but also aids people in improving sports performance. Doctors Hospital features the area’s first Trilogy Radiosurgery System and da Vinci surgical system plus a Joint and Spine center.
Augusta is the hub of award-winning, world class health care in the region. University Hospital has earned the Magnet designation for nursing excellence, the only hospital in the CSRA to hold this distinction, and has been named the National Research Corporation’s Consumer Choice Award for overall image and quality for 12 consecutive years. Georgia Health Sciences Health System is one of 15 major academic medical centers included among the Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals in 2003 and 2007 – the highest honor in health care – and in 2008 became the only health system in Georgia named a Community Value Index Top 100 Hospital for four out of five consecutive years. Doctors Hospital recently received the 2010 Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award and Walton Rehabilitation Health System received the 2007 NAHMA Communities of Quality award for the Development for the Elderly and the Development for Residents with Special Needs. With accolades like these, it is no wonder Augusta is not simply the home of superb medical services. It is undeniably a health care destination.