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July 20, 2022
H
Reporter
Monroe County Board of Health chair Dr. Jeremy Goodwin and longest serving board member Hugh Cromer cut the ribbon to
celebrate Health Dept, renovations. The lobby was dedicated to long-time local physician and Health board chair Dr. J. Ray Grant
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Health Dept, celebrates renovations,
dedicates lobby to Dr. J. Ray Grant
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By Richard Dumas
RDumas@monroecoga.us
About 75 local citizens
attended a ribbon cutting
on Thursday, July 14 to
commemorate the nearly
year-long renovation of the
Monroe County Health
Department building com
pleted in December 2021.
The Forsyth-Monroe
County Chamber of Com
merce sponsored Thurs
days gathering, which
included hors d’oeuvres
and a tour of the renovated
facility. Monroe County
Board of Health chair
man Dr. Jeremy Goodwin,
Monroe County Board
of Health member Hugh
Cromer and North Central
Health District represen
tative Erica Shaw were
speakers.
The renovation, which
cost about $1.1 million,
was made possible by a
$750,000 Georgia De
partment of Community
Affairs (DCA) grant. The
Monroe County Board of
Health and the Monroe
County Board of Com
missioners each chipped
in an additional $75,000.
Proform Construction,
LLC of Forsyth was general
contractor for the project,
the first major renova
tion project at the Health
Department in nearly 30
years.
As part of Thursdays cel
ebration, Monroe County
Board of Health unveiled
a commemorative plaque
dedicating the renovated
lobby to the late Dr. J. Ray
Grant, longtime chairman
of the Board of Health as
well as the Monroe County
Board of Education.
Shaw read aloud a letter
from Morris Hutcheson,
the North Central Health
District Director of Special
Projects and Development,
who oversaw the renova
tion project. Hutcheson
described how the Board of
Healths initial plan in 2019
was to improve the build
ings electrical, plumbing
and roofing systems, but
that it quickly became evi
dent that many other facets
of the building needed
enhancing. The project
became much wider to in
clude: new HVAC systems,
improving client flow and
providing staff and com
munity partners with train
ing areas. Hutcheson wrote
that after securing $750,000
in funding from a DCA
Community Development
Block Grant and a total of
$150,000 from the Board
of Health and Board of
Commissioners, the North
Central Health District
obtained $145,215 in U.S.
Department of Agriculture
(USDA) infrastructure
funds. The remaining fund
ing came from the Board of
Healths operational budget.
Hutcheson wrote:
“Monroe County now has
a modern public facility,
which will serve the com
munity well into the future.
.. Thank you again to the
Monroe County Com
mission, (Monroe County
Manager) Jim Hedges and
his team at the county, and
to the Monroe County
Board of Health both cur
rent and past members. In
addition, we wish to thank
Proform Construction,
Carter-Watkins Architects,
and the Middle Georgia
Regional Commission for
their contributions.”
Goodwin noted that
Thursdays gathering went
beyond the renovation
project to honoring the
memory of longtime local
physician Dr. Grant, who
passed away in 2017 at the
age of 65. Goodwin, who
succeeded Grant as Board
of Health chairman, said,
“I think most everybody
here knows he was a local
physician for more than
two decades, a pillar of
this community, a leader
in multiple areas, and the
chairman of the Board
of Health for a very long
time.”
Numerous members
of Grants family were in
attendance on Thursday,
including wife, Leigh;
daughters, Jessica Natalie
Estes; sons, Barrett and
Michael; and sister Dr.
Priscilla Doster, the current
chairman of the Board of
Education.
Barrett Grant spoke on
behalf of the Grant family,
saying his fathers life was
one of service to medicine,
and more importantly,
to the Monroe County
community: “Just thinking
enough of Dad to attach his
name to it means a lot to
us. And I think Dad would
probably be proud, but I
don’t think he’d be proud
because it shines a spot
light on him, I think he’d
be proud just because this
community meant so much
to him... He grew up in
Monroe County and abso
lutely loved it. Obviously,
he went off to school and
med school and residency
and met Mom, but I don’t
think it ever was a ques
tion with Dad of wanting
to come back to Monroe
County to be here and
serve and care for people
because he just thought so
much of the place that gave
him so much.”
He said his father always
cared for his patients and
having the lobby named
in his honor symbolizes
the care that all of Monroe
County medical profes
sionals exemplify daily.
“I’m reminded that a life
well-lived is a life worth
living,” Barrett Grant said.
“And I think Dad lived a
really good life, and it’s not
just because of all the stuff
that he did and accom
plished. And I’m biased,
but I think he did a lot. But
I think that his life meant a
lot because he cared a lot.
So my hope, and I think
our family’s hope, is that
when people walk through
the doors of this beautiful
building, maybe they will
look over and see a plaque
or picture or something,
hopefully they’ll smile and
have good memories of
Dad. But I hope more so
that they’ll know it’s people
like Dad, doctors and
nurses and technicians and
all the health care profes
sionals in Monroe County,
and they’ll know that Mon
roe County is a place that
people are cared for.”
Richard Dumas is the
Monroe County public
information officer.
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