Piedmont’s expanded presence to change care in Athens area

On Oct. 1, the honeymoon ends for Piedmont Healthcare and Athens Regional Medical Center (ARMC), and the realities of their marriage will set in. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a43AE0fCkHM&feature=em-upload_owner[/youtube]Next week Athens Regional, with 350 beds, will become the second-largest facility in Piedmont’s system and the only one with a residency program. ARMC will be Piedmont’s seventh hospital. “I think…

Specter of maternal mortality remains grim

The United States ranks 50th among countries in maternal mortality – worse than any other economically developed country. And when the U.S. states are compared, Georgia comes in at or near the bottom of the barrel. Regardless of whether Georgia has the highest rate of maternal death in the nation, or whether it is merely…

Clay County: A lot of impoverished patients . . . and one dedicated doctor

This is the first in a series of articles about health care in Southwest Georgia, an area of the state that has great health needs and challenges, but also some innovative approaches to such problems. The series is the product of a collaboration between Georgia Health News and the health and medical journalism graduate program at UGA…