GREENSBORO  – At an event that brought together dozens of community supporters on Sept. 17, the St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation launched a $3 million campaign to raise funds for a state-of-the-art CT scanner, permanent MRI system, a dedicated cardiac stress lab, and a 2,200-square-foot expansion to house them.

 The Expanding Technology, Elevating Care Campaign seeks to address the sobering reality that cardiovascular disease is the number one health issue in Greene, Putnam, Hancock, Morgan and Taliaferro counties. Cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke and coronary artery disease accounted for 31.1 percent of deaths in these counties from 2015-2017, more than any other cause.

“Since the day St. Mary’s acquired the hospital in 2012, our goal has been to keep high-quality health care local,” said Good Samaritan President Tanya Adcock. “This campaign will make it possible for us to provide a wide range of enhanced cardiac, stroke and imaging services right here that patients currently have to travel to Atlanta or Augusta to receive.”

“The greater Greene County and Lake Oconee communities have consistently made it possible for St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital to offer services that are extraordinary for a small rural hospital,” said Ansley Martin, foundation director. “It’s because of the incredible generosity of the people here that Good Sam can offer these services. Response to this new campaign is already outstanding. We are confident we can reach our goal, and deeply thankful for the support of so many wonderful people and businesses.”

Adcock noted that the expansion is needed to meet increasing patient volumes. “We anticipated a high rate of growth when we built this hospital in 2013, but the reality has outpaced our most optimistic expectations,” she said. “That’s a wonderful problem to have, but it also means it’s time for our first expansion so that we can continue to meet our community’s growing needs.”

A major part of that growth is in cardiac services. The addition of cardiologist John Layher, MD, of Oconee Heart and Vascular Center full-time to the community has enabled Good Sam to provide inpatient care to more local residents who have cardiac complications. Expanding cardiac diagnostic services at Good Sam will provide him and other area cardiologists with the vital diagnostic tools they need to serve more patients locally.

Specifically, the campaign is raising funds for:

• 320-slice CT system. This state-of-the art system will replace the current 64-slice scanner. It will create more detailed images of the inside of the body faster. The system is so fast, it can capture images of the inside of the heart’s arteries in a single heartbeat. It’s also a more powerful tool in diagnosing stroke and deciding the best treatment option for emergency stroke patients.
• 16 Channel MRI system. Good Sam currently uses a mobile, 8-channel MRI that is available only during normal working hours. Being a mobile unit, patients must leave the climate-controlled building to reach it. The new system will create better images faster, will be housed in an addition to the building, and will have a wider “tube” to increase patient comfort. MRI is especially useful for orthopedic, heart, brain, spine and abdominal imaging without the use of ionizing radiation. Another advantage: by owning and staffing the MRI system itself, Good Sam will have the option to expand service hours as patient volumes continue to grow.
• Cardiac Stress Lab. Currently, Good Sam’s cardiac stress lab is housed in the nuclear medicine room, which limits scheduling for both types of procedures. The new lab will provide separate space for a treadmill, EKG monitoring system, patient stretcher and workroom, allowing Good Sam to schedule twice as many patients for cardiac stress tests and nuclear medicine studies.
• New construction. To accommodate the MRI system and Cardiac Stress Lab, Good Sam will enclose a breezeway and add new rooms to create a 2,200-square-foot addition to the back of the hospital. A major benefit of this expansion is that patients will be able to access the MRI unit without being exposed to the elements.

“Back in 2013, our community raised $8 million to help make Good Sam the most outstanding small hospital in the state,” Adcock said. “We are eternally grateful. More importantly, that generosity has more than paid for itself in lives saved and improved because of the additional capabilities it allowed us to provide. We are confident our community will come through again so that Good Sam can continue to grow and meet the needs of those we serve for years to come.”

To learn more or make a donation, please contact Ansley Martin, Foundation Director, at 706-389-3926. All donations to St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Foundation benefit Good Sam and are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law.