Newspaper Page Text
The Vidalia Advance Established 1901 The Lyons Progress Established 1894
Vol. 126 No. 38
Your Newspaper - Toombs, Montgomery & Wheeler County, Georgia 75$ September 20, 2023
A History: The DR. JOHN M. MEADOWS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Memorial Hospital
adows
credited by Joint Commission
P^otoer Roger u,
a * IOn Lab this week
equipment.
M. Meadows mm
Cpllal h» **" ■
bv the J mI1 ' ■
„ n Accre$i' ation H
JCAH1 according ■
, ealheriord, Jr., “
Meditation, which ■
n January 17. W77 t0 ■
M 979.isthe result of U
garvey made by field ■
,lives of the Joint ■
-s's Hospital Ac- ■
Program lHAPY *
in indicates that
y has chosen to
•onling to standards
;aH and that the
as, in the main, met
dards.
tdards. published as
r REDlTATION
IR HOSPITALS,
,mal achievable
“Hence against
- can measure
isured by the
ion’s Survey,
ai M. Meadows
.jspital is one of
tely 4800 general
throughout the
is that have earned
iiition. There are
“Jy 7150 hospitals in
rtogy and sophisticated
’ MR MC CEO
't. 1 he specialties, the
is, the equipment, al-
. 10 ' S et sophisticated
in their own comrrtu-
n prevents them from
incur the expense and
■'emence of going out
irdiac catheterization
■please see MRAIC. p m 2A
Surw ,
in 195*
pres
organi:
Coll**
Arne'
Phy
Hosp
Ame
Associc
Chicag
governm
organic'
hospital
the acr
care
{acilitie
menu
, David
Green.
Records. Mr.
Mr. WelcVi
, n t. Chairman.
t Commission’s
surveys are
* is not legally
' a hospital to be
tot health care
ve sought ac-
because it
i benchmark of
is higher than
“The Way
Bounces
a*cip®
No hospital exists but
for the physicians who
support it. In 1960, there
was no community hos
pital in Toombs County
but there were physicians,
some of whom had as
many as one to twenty-five
patient rooms attached to
their private clinics. These
clinics were independently
owned and operated by
these local physicians.
Twenty-four-hour care
was problematic, both fi
nancially and administra
tively, with advanced treat
ment impossible.
In the early days prior
to 1960, the county’s first
hospital was the Minnie
Lou Sanatorium, which
was established in 1909
by Dr. Malcom Lafay
ette Currie, who named it
for his wife, Minnie, and
daughter, Lou, who died at
a young age. It was located
at 806 E. First Street in Vi
dalia, which was outside
of the defined city limits
at that time. This struc
ture burned on August 25,
1938, and at that time was
called the Vidalia Hospital.
The Vidalia City direc
tory confirms that Dr. Cur
rie was living in Vidalia in
1922, and died in 1932.
After the death of Dr. Cur
rie, the name of the Minnie
Lou Sanatorium became
the Thompson Hospital,
an institution owned for
decades by Dr. Thompson,
whose first name has been
lost somewhere in history
This hospital, or sanato
rium as it was known
back in those days, was
located in the area of
First Street (U.S. Hwy
280) and SE Main
Street, and it was later
demolished to make
way for a number of mo
tor companies, Threlkeld
Motor Company, among
the first.
There were many
physicians who were not
clinic owners and had
to rely on the physician-
owned clinics when they
needed to admit a patient
for more advanced care or
extended stays. The most
notable clinic hospitals
were the Conner-Beding-
field Clinic and The Billy
Aiken Clinic in Lyons.
There were a number of
other clinics that occasion
ally admitted patients for
overnight and sometimes
As healthcare ad
vanced, it became obvi
ous that the community
needed a facility for pa
tients who were seriously
hospital, as they would
have suffered serious fi
nancial burdens if they lost
revenue for their individu
al clinics.
to whether or not to have
a community hospital on a
countywide ballot.
After considerable
politicking on both sides
The Minnie Lou Sanitarium, Vidalia's first hospital located at the site of fhe former Threlkeld Motor Company
longer care, but these two
were the most frequent
ly used. Medicine and
healthcare were advancing
at a rapid pace during this
period, and technology
was constantly improving
to provide a higher stan
dard of care for patients.
The advancements in med
ical technology brought
the need for expensive
diagnostic and treatment
equipment, something
that the physician-owned
hospitals had to consider
from a financial perspec
tive.
injured, critically ill or
needed extended stays in a
hospital environment.
Headlines of an Au
gust 4, 1960, article in The
Lyons Progress, the legal
organ of Toombs County
at the time, indicated that
community leaders were
debating the pros and cons
of private vs. public hos
pitals and discussing the
obvious funding needed.
A number of physicians in
Toombs County strongly
objected to the idea of a
community-owned
The issue became con
troversial and opposing
citizens’ groups arose on
each side of the issue. One
group was The Toombs
County Citizens Who Be
lieve in Private Enterprise
and the second was The
Toombs County Com- Es
mittee for the Hospital.
The news media indi
cated that these two
opposing groups had f
come to an impasse,
and so it was decided
to place the issue as
of the issue, the county
wide ballot resulted in
an overwhelming victory
for those who wanted a
community hospital. The
county electorate voted
2,219 in favor of a commu-
would not use the pro
posed hospital. Those
doctors included Dr. H.I.
Conner and W.H. Be-
dingfield, who owned
the Conner-Bedingfield
Hospital; Dr. O.S. Gross
and Dr. J.E. Mercer, who
owned the Gross-Mercer
Hospital; and Dr. W.VV.
(Billy) Aiken and Dr. H.D.
Youmans, who owned the
Aiken Hospital; and two
independent physicians,
Dr. H.W. Oliver, Jr. and Dr.
M.H. Whittle.
In 1946, the federal
government passed an act
known as the Hill-Burton
Act, which allowed coun
ty operated community
hospitals to apply for fed
eral grants and low inter
est loans for construction
and modernization. In
return, this required lo
cal community hospitals,
like Meadows, to provide
a reasonable volume of
service unable to pay, and
make these services avail
able to all persons residing
in the hospital service area.
When the Medicare and
Medicaid acts were passed
in 1965, their require
ments on local hospitals,
including Meadows
-CHNOLOGY — MRMC ic r. ■
Meadows to open Cardiat
Lao and new Emergency
fyjtoger Lee, Staff Reporter This Sunday afternoon fro *
T" — - J to 4 hospital officials will m eSt !ec ^ n °log
In nrenaration o,.. ... „ .. k « uincjats will un- r
SUBSCRIBE
AND SAVE
30% OFF
NEWSSTAND
^ preparation for an oDen
house event, crews are puE
the finishing touches on the
Meadows Regional Medical
Center renovation project which
represents the second phase of a
aS r f UCtI ° n Pla " des '£ned to
allow for expansion of services
and improve the quality of
health care provided in our area
J m i f , y af temoon from
lJ° 4 a hosp ‘j*> officials will un-
etl a newly renovated first
floor, containing a larger re
designed emergency room and a
eardiac catheterization Jab.
By the addition of new
enninm™ Specialties - Specialty
equipment, expanded spaces
Ake the ER and Ambulatory
weTA ° Se t,pes of ,hi ”^
we me SOmg to provide ,h e la,.
services,’ 5
Alan Kent.
physicians, t
low people tc
care here in t
nity which pr
having to incc
the inconvenii
of town.”
The cardi;
nity-owned hospital,
and only 993 voted
against the proposal.
Of the eight Toombs
County precincts, six
voted in favor of the
community hospital
Imi
Call 537-3131
(or delivery!
with two precincts,
Lyons and Blue
Ridge, voting against
the proposal.
In the after-
math of the elec
tion, physician clinic
owners declared they
eventually replaced the
Hill-Burton requirements.
The Hospital Au
thority Was Born
Many counties in the
state and throughout the
nation took advantage of
the Hill-Burton Act. And
locally this was considered
a step forward by most cit
izens. In May of 1960, the
communitywide hospital
effort gained momentum.
Please see Meadows
page 2A
