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8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 17,2019
Photos by Austin Steele Dawson County News
A tour is led through Northeast Georgia Health System Lumpkin onThursday, July 11, in Dahlonega ahead of opening.
NGMC Lumpkin now open for business
A patient area at Northeast Georgia Health System Lumpkin in Dahlonega is seen Thursday, July 11.
Attendees take self-guided tours at Northeast Georgia Health System Lumpkin.
By Megan Reed
DCN Regional Staff
Lumpkin County will have
its own hospital again starting
Tuesday, when Northeast
Georgia Medical Center
Lumpkin opens its doors at the
former site of Chestatee
Regional Hospital in
Dahlonega.
NGMC Lumpkin will offer
emergency and inpatient servic
es, as well as imaging, lab and
pharmacy report. The hospital
at 227 Mountain Drive will
open at 7 a.m. Tuesday. The
hospital will be staffed by phy
sicians who also serve other
NGMC hospitals.
Dr. Donna Whitfield, the hos
pital’s chief of medical staff,
will be returning to the building
where she started her career in
1976, the same year Chestatee
Regional opened. She was an
on-the-job trainee in the emer
gency room, checking patients
in and getting their vital signs.
Whitfield later worked as an
emergency medical technician in
Lumpkin and Dawson counties,
bringing patients to Chestatee
Regional. After that, she became
a respiratory therapist and was
Chestatee Regional’s director of
cardiopulmonary services. Once
she finished medical school, she
became a physician and has been
working with Northeast Georgia
Physicians Group in Dahlonega.
Now, Whitfield will lead the
medical staff at NGMC Lumpkin
in the community where her fami
ly has lived for more than five
generations. She said Lumpkin
has needed its own hospital —
patients had been going to
Gainesville during the year
Chestatee Regional was closed.
“We can keep them here in
their hometown so their fami
lies can be with them,” she
said. “Otherwise, they have to
ship to Gainesville, and it’s a
hardship for a lot of families to
go back and forth.”
Chestatee Regional closed in
July 2018. The hospital, which
was owned by a Florida lawyer,
had been accused of being a
farm for high insurance reim
bursements tied to drug testing
services, some of which were
never performed at the hospital.
After Chestatee Regional
closed its doors, the Northeast
Georgia Health System extended
its Dahlonega urgent care hours
and provided paramedics for a
third ambulance in Lumpkin.
Chris Dockery, chairman of
the Lumpkin County Board of
Commissioners, said the area
has needed a reliable hospital,
and he is excited for NGMC
Lumpkin to open.
“There were times when it
seemed like it would never hap
pen, but it finally did. I think
it’s certainly worth the wait,”
Dockery said. “Health care is a
very important part to any com
munity that wants to thrive, and
that concept is nothing new. ...
We have to have health care
that’s reputable and health care
that’s trusted, and I believe that
Northeast Georgia Health
System fits that very model.”
Dahlonega Mayor Sam
Norton said people in Lumpkin
had been concerned over the
lack of a local emergency room
over the past year.
“Opening this facility is a
new and much-needed chapter
in this community’s health care
situation,” Norton said. “It’s
been no secret that there’s been
anguish and apprehension in
the community over the
absence of emergency health
care. Even though there were
some stop gap measures in
place ... that does not calm par
ents of little ones and children
of older ones.”
Whitfield also said having a
nearby emergency room would
be a comfort to the community.
“The community is very
excited to have this hospital
reopened, just to have close
medical care and an emergency
room in case something hap
pens, an accident at home. ...
Instead of having to drive to
Gainesville, because that can
be a 30, 40 minute drive,” she
said.
Kay Hall will be the nurse
manager for the emergency
department and the inpatient
medical unit at NGMC Lumpkin.
After spending 40 years at
NGMC Gainesville, she will be
leading about 30 nurses in
Lumpkin and is looking forward
to working with the new team,
which will include some former
Chestatee Regional nurses.
“Some people, this was home
to them. They’re excited to
come back and provide care
back to their community that
they belong to,” Hall said.
“There were people that
worked at Northeast Georgia
Medical Center that lived in
this community and never
worked at Chestatee previously
that came to me because this is
their community. ... These are
your family members, your
friends, the people you know. It
could be you tomorrow that
needs the care.”
Hall, who lives in North Hall,
said she had been involved in
the design and planning process
for NGMC Lumpkin and decid
ed to transfer after learning
more about the hospital on the
hill.
“I fell in love with the loca
tion, fell in love with the com
munity,” she said.
NGMC Lumpkin sits on
Crown Mountain in Dahlonega,
overlooking the University of
North Georgia campus. And
UNG has future plans for the
building. The university hopes
to use it for its health science
programs. NGHS is currently
leasing the property from the
University System of Georgia
Board of Regents.
NGHS plans to stay in
Lumpkin, though. The health
system owns a 57-acre site off
Ga. 400 near the intersection
with Ga. 60 and will build a
permanent hospital there. That
hospital is tentatively set to
open in 2022.
NGMC Lumpkin joins
NGHS’ other hospitals in
Gainesville, Braselton and
Winder. The health system is
also investing $15 million in
Habersham Medical Center in
Demorest, with hopes of buy
ing that hospital after five
years.