Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

 

CORDELE — The Crisp Regional Hospital Emergency Department was recognized for its commitment to strengthening pediatric emergency care in Crisp County during a Dec. 7 ribbon-cutting ceremony. Crisp Regional was celebrated for reaching key milestones as a participating hospital in the Kids Alliance for Better Care (KidsABC). The alliance, established in 2023, is a collaboration between Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM), its Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center (GRHIC) and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s).

 

Georgia rural hospitals face unique challenges in their ability to treat and keep pediatric patients in their communities, and KidsABC is focused on improving access to quality pediatric care.

 

“At Crisp Regional, we have long recognized the challenges of providing high-quality pediatric care in a rural setting,” said Steven Gautney, president and CEO of Crisp Regional Hospital. “Before our involvement with the Kids Alliance for Better Care, we faced significant hurdles in ensuring that our youngest patients had access to the specialized resources and expertise they need. The combination of limited pediatric specialists and the unique demands of rural health care often meant that families had to travel long distances for care. This partnership has been transformative, enhancing our ability to serve the children of Crisp County right here at home.”

 

KidsABC helps participating hospitals, like Crisp Regional, acquire child-friendly equipment, complete pediatric-specific emergency care staff training and implement the latest protocols and policies for treating children with critical conditions, such as asthma and diabetic ketoacidosis.

 

“The Kids Alliance for Better Care has been a game-changer for pediatric emergency care at Crisp Regional Hospital,” said Gautney. “With new pediatric-specific equipment like wheelchairs and medical imaging aprons, we’re better prepared more than ever. We have adopted KidsABC’s evidence-based policies for pediatric care, and our staff has undergone advanced training, including hands-on sessions at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s SIMS lab, which has significantly boosted their confidence and expertise.”

 

Crisp Regional has already seen the positive effects of the KidsABC initiative.

 

“One remarkable example of this impact was a recent case involving a child in diabetic ketoacidosis during a severe storm which made transport impossible,” Gautney said. “Using the KidsABC protocol and with guidance from our attending pediatrician, our team was able to stabilize the child locally, avoiding a transfer and ensuring critical care right here in our community. This initiative not only saves lives but also allows families to stay close to home during difficult times.”

 

Crisp Regional commemorated its KidsABC participation and completion of milestones with a ribbon cutting hosted by the Cordele-Crisp Chamber of Commerce and attended by hospital, Children’s, MUSM and GRHIC representatives. As part of the celebration, community members were invited to a Cookies with Santa event.

 

“Today marks a pivotal moment for kids in rural Georgia and in Crisp County,” said MUSM Dean Jean R. Sumner, M.D., FACP. “We are honored to recognize the ED staff for their dedication

to pediatric care. Through emergency care training, expanding their skills and setting an expectation of excellence in all they do, they offer outstanding care for children. Children are not just tiny adults when it comes to the practice of emergency medicine. They require special care and appropriate equipment and tools to help keep their care here at home. Crisp Regional Hospital has been a strong, committed KidsABC participant and has set the bar very high for pediatric care. We commend the efforts of the staff and leadership. They are making a difference in children’s lives and will continue to do so for years to come.”

 

“Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta congratulates Crisp Regional on achieving this milestone,” said Marc Welsh, Children’s V.P. of child advocacy and chief diversity officer. “The objectives of KidsABC align with Children’s vision to ‘Do Everything Possible to Make Anything Possible for Kids’. We want to ensure all the children of Georgia have access to quality health care and, by participating in KidsABC, hospitals like Crisp Regional are building capacity to serve even more kids in their own communities.”

 

KidsABC brings together a network of rural hospital emergency departments, pediatric offices, regional and state pediatric tertiary care hospitals and school systems to address the challenge of health care access, which many rural families face. KidsABC participants are equipped with the necessary tools, protocols, training and education, so families have access to subspecialty care, mental health care and emergency medical care in their hometowns.

 

Programs within KidsABC address the challenges of distance to specialty care and limited resources. KidsABC emphasizes the importance of early intervention in achieving positive outcomes. Children’s provided specialized pediatric clinical guidance to launch and sustain these programs.

 

For More Information:

KidsABC Initiatives: https://den.mercer.edu/school-of-medicine-announces-community-partners-in-rural-pediatric-health-care-initiative/

 

KidsABC Rural Hospital Emergency Department Collaborative Expansion: https://den.mercer.edu/musm-and-grhic-expand-major-rural-pediatric-health-care-initiative-to-newly-selected-hospitals/

 

About Mercer University School of Medicine (Macon, Savannah and Columbus)

Mercer University’s School of Medicine was established in 1982 to educate physicians and health professionals to meet the primary care and health care needs of rural and medically underserved areas of Georgia. Today, more than 60 percent of graduates currently practice in the state of Georgia, and of those, more than 80 percent are practicing in rural or medically underserved areas of Georgia. Mercer medical students benefit from a problem-based medical education program that provides early patient care experiences. Such an academic environment fosters the early development of clinical problem-solving and instills in each student an awareness of the place of the basic medical sciences in medical practice. The School opened additional four-year M.D. campuses in Savannah in 2008 and in Columbus in 2021, and a clinical campus in Valdosta in 2024. Following their second year, students participate in core clinical clerkships at the School’s primary teaching hospitals: Atrium Health Navicent The Medical Center and Piedmont Macon Medical Center in Macon; Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah; Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Columbus; and SGMC Health in Valdosta. The School also offers master’s degrees in preclinical sciences and family therapy and Ph.D.s in biomedical sciences and rural health sciences.

 

About Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center

In 2018, Georgia lawmakers dedicated special funds to establish a new Rural Health Innovation Center tasked with confronting the complex health care challenges and wellness disparities facing rural communities. Mercer University School of Medicine was awarded the grant funds in 2019 and formally established the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center on its Macon campus. MUSM boasts a longstanding commitment to serving rural Georgia’s health needs, with a mission to educate physicians dedicated to tackling the health challenges in rural Georgia. The Rural Health Innovation Center serves as a critical resource to rural communities to improve access and effectiveness of health care by offering research, collaboration, and training opportunities.

 

About Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

As the only freestanding pediatric healthcare system in Georgia, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is the trusted leader in caring for kids. The not-for-profit organization’s mission is to make kids better today and healthier tomorrow through more than 60 pediatric specialties and programs, top healthcare professionals, and leading research and technology. Children’s is one of the largest pediatric clinical care providers in the country, managing more than 1.1 million patient visits annually at three hospitals (Egleston, Scottish Rite and Hughes Spalding), Marcus Autism Center, the Center for Advanced Pediatrics, urgent care centers and neighborhood locations. Consistently ranked among the top children’s hospitals by U.S. News & World Report, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has impacted the lives of kids in Georgia, across the United States and around the world for more than 100 years thanks to generous support from the community.

 

About Crisp Regional Hospital

Crisp Regional Health Services oversees the award-winning, high-tech Crisp Regional Hospital, with a level 3 trauma center. Its comprehensive network of health and social service facilities includes a home health program, 143-bed nursing home, retirement home, hospice and home care program, dialysis facility, and rural health clinics in bordering areas. More than 50 physicians practice within Crisp Regional Hospital, providing hospital and outpatient care in family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, emergency medicine, and 20-plus other specialties and subspecialties. During the past decade, Crisp Regional has changed and expanded to keep pace with the dramatic advances in modern medicine and to meet the demand for new services in both the hospital and the growing central Georgia community. Throughout this growth, it has never lost the personal touch, compassion, and commitment to patient- and family-centered care at a reasonable cost that has characterized Crisp Regional since its establishment in 1952.