Community Events & Announcements

Media and community partners, 

A huge thank you to each of you that supported the blood drive in any way – donating, sharing the message, sharing the social media posts, etc. Below are our results from our partner at The Blood Connection. We look forward to another one May 7th. We appreciate your partnership. 

We registered 59 donors yesterday and collected 39 good units! That is enough to impact up to 117 local lives! That is wonderful! Thank you so much for hosting. The outcome was amazing. Looking forward to seeing you all on May 7th 

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Jill Blizzard

Director of Marketing and Volunteer Services

Wayne Memorial Hospital

Jesup, Georgia

 

Wayne Memorial Hospital Receives $43,750 in Georgia HEART funds

From The First Bank

 

Jesup, GA – Through the Georgia Rural Health Tax Program, Georgia HEART, Wayne Memorial recently received $43,750 from The First Bank. Pictured are Hospital Chief Executive Officer Joe Ierardi (center), flanked by The First’s Commercial Loan Officer and Vice President Ginger Proudfoot (left) and The First’s Division Manager and Senior Vice President Stephen Parker (right) at the check presentation.

Georgia HEART (Helping Enhance Access to Rural Treatment) is a tax program that enables tax dollars to be redirected locally and in state to rural hospitals of the taxpayers’ choice.  For many years, due to demographic, economic, and health care industry challenges, Georgia’s rural hospitals have been facing a financial crisis. This crisis jeopardizes the access of rural Georgians to adequate health care. In response, in 2016, the Georgia General Assembly passed, and Governor Nathan Deal signed into law, Senate Bill 258. This legislation awards Georgia income tax credits to individual and corporate taxpayers who contribute to qualified rural hospital organizations located in Georgia.

“Part of our mission at The First is to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve to ensure a brighter future for everyone,” Parker said. “The partnership with Georgia HEART and Wayne Memorial Hospital is just one example of how we demonstrate this commitment. Our customers and the public at large utilize our local rural hospital and we are glad to support the hospital in carrying out its mission of caring for the community,” he continued. “We are certainly proud of Wayne Memorial’s service to our community,” Proudfoot added. “This donation dovetails well with the history of the founding of the bank when a group of friends got together to talk about creating a bank that would take care of financial needs of the customer and also the individual as a whole. Together, The First and Wayne Memorial are natural partners,” she said.

Participation in the Georgia HEART program is limited to Georgia rural hospitals that meet certain qualification criteria established in the law. These include population size (50,000 or less, excluding military personnel), tax-exempt status or public hospital authority management, acceptance of Medicare and Medicaid, and a minimum annual provision of indigent or uncompensated care. In order to qualify, rural hospitals must also file a five-year plan with the Georgia Department of Community Health.

 “We are humbled and grateful for this gift from The First,” Ierardi said. “We appreciate them thinking of us and, as always, will exercise fiscal responsibility in how these funds are used. Donations help our hospital buy necessary but unbudgeted equipment that benefits the health of the community we serve. Organizations like The First and programs like Georgia HEART have been a blessing to us and many other rural hospitals,” he shared. 

Wayne Memorial Hospital, whose mission is to provide high quality health care services to all patients, built a state-of-the-art facility in 2007. It is the third largest employer in Wayne County with 500 employees, 84 beds and is a three-time winner of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals Small Hospital of the Year Award.

 

 

 

 

Baby New Year Arrives at Wayne Memorial Hospital

 

 

Caption: The first baby to arrive in the new year, Baby Remington Jun, made her grand entrance into the world at 9:25 a.m. on January 1. Weighing in at six pounds, 14 ounces and measuring 20 inches long, Remington Jun is pictured here with proud parents Marjorie and Brandyn. Baby Remington Jun, or Remi Jun as she will be called, will be welcomed home by sister Parker Mei and brother Bohen. Mother Marjorie is under the care of OB/GYN Dr. Sandra Mager, while Baby Remi Jun is under the care of Pediatrician Dr. Stanley Jones. She is the first baby born at Wayne Memorial in 2024. The family makes their home in the Alma area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Legion Post 311 Donates $500 in Gas Cards to Local Infusion Center Patients                       

 

Jesup, GA – Recently, members of the American Legion Post 311 gathered at the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion’s Infusion Center at Wayne Memorial Hospital to commemorate a donation of $500 in gas cards for patient use. The post facilitates bingo games at Your Turn Gaming in Jesup every Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. and monthly on the first Saturday of every month at 6:15 p.m. in the same location. With a price of $25 to play, proceeds from these games made this donation possible. On hand for the donation were, from left to right, Post Chaplain Graham Larson, Post Finance Officer David Ehrlich, Wayne Memorial Hospital CEO Joe Ierardi, Post Commander Allen Brown and Hospital Senior Systems Administrator Jason Schrum. “We are so appreciative of this gift to our patients and thank the group for their generosity,” Ierardi said. “When patients are fighting cancer, they may need to make several trips to the infusion center for treatment and their physicians’ offices for follow up visits.  These gas gift cards may help put some patients’ minds at ease regarding the price of gas and those trips, so that they can focus solely on their health and recovery.”

The American Legion is the largest wartime veterans service organization with nearly 2 million members and more than 12,000 posts in communities throughout America. The American Legion, established by an act of Congress in 1919, was instrumental in getting the original GI Bill through Congress and the creation of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

St. Joseph’s/Candler and Wayne Memorial Hospital partnered in the expansion of the Nancy N. and J.C. Lewis Cancer & Research Pavilion to Wayne County. Services offered include chemotherapy treatment for cancers and blood disorders. The facility offers state-of-the-art quality care available as part of the LCRP in the patient’s own community right here in Wayne County. 

Wayne Memorial Hospital, whose mission is to provide high quality health care services to all patients, built a state-of-the-art facility in 2007. It is the third largest employer in Wayne County with 500 employees, 84 beds and is a three-time winner of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals Small Hospital of the Year Award. 

 

 

 

 

Da Vinci Robot arrives at Jesup’s

  Wayne Memorial Hospital

Jesup, GA –  Within a sanitized operating room at Wayne Memorial Hospital lies a masterpiece. Although not a piece of art, the da Vinci surgical system could be considered a work of art, medically. The da Vinci Xi is already in use, under the guidance of Dr. Michael Kennedy, General Surgeon. Regarding the benefits of the system, Dr Kennedy shares the da Vinci results in “a smaller incision, less pain and quicker recovery for the patient.” With decreased pain, there is “less narcotic use post-op and a quicker return to work for the patient.”  From a physician standpoint, this robot-assisted surgery via da Vinci offers “a better visualization of the operative scene,” Dr. Kennedy said.

Other stakeholders see benefits as well. The hospital’s Director of Surgical Services, Heather Elliott, RN, BSN,

says, “I do think that robotics are the future for minimally invasive surgery. The robot is an extension of the surgeon and allows for better accuracy and control.  The da Vinci robot works with ease and precision and results in better outcomes for the patient. I do think this will shorten surgery recovery time and shorten hospital stays.” Procedures the da Vinci Xi system will be used for include cholecystectomies (gall bladder removal), appendectomies, and hernia repairs, with perhaps more to come. Both Elliott and Dr. Kennedy have been working with Intuitive for their da Vinci training and rollout in the Operating Room.

About the da Vinci Surgical System

There are several models of the da Vinci surgical system. The da Vinci surgical systems are designed to help surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery. Da Vinci systems offer surgeons high-definition 3D vision, a magnified view, and robotic and computer assistance. They use specialized instrumentation, including a miniaturized surgical camera and wristed instruments (i.e., scissors, scalpels and forceps) that are designed to help with precise dissection and reconstruction deep inside the body.

About Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Intuitive (Nasdaq: ISRG), headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a global technology leader in minimally invasive care and a pioneer of robotic-assisted surgery. At Intuitive, our mission statement is we believe that minimally invasive care is life-enhancing care. Through ingenuity and intelligent technology, we expand the potential of physicians to heal without constraints. Intuitive brings more than two decades of leadership in robotic-assisted surgical technology and solutions to its offerings, and develops, manufactures and markets the da Vinci surgical system and the Ion endoluminal system.

Wayne Memorial Hospital, whose mission is to provide high quality health care services to all patients, built a state-of-the-art facility in 2007. It is the third largest employer in Wayne County with 500 employees, 84 beds and is a three-time winner of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals Small Hospital of the Year Award. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consider volunteering for a child in foster care and become her Everyday Hero.
By showing up to support her well-being, she’ll be twice as likely to find a safe, permanent home.
 
Court Appointed Special Advocates- CASA volunteers-are Everyday Heroes that are specially trained to protect only the best interests of children in foster care.
 
You can become an Everyday Hero this year and help a child in foster care.  Learn how by calling 912-367-0064.  That’s 912-367-0064.