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LRMC welcomes new physicians
Ribbon cutting features speakers, reception
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Emily C. Harrison
Correspondent
Updated: Jan 13, 2013, 8:00 PM
Published: Jan 11, 2013, 8:15 PM

Liberty Regional Medical Center’s newest physicians were hailed during a Dec. 20 ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house at the LRMC office building. The event was sponsored in conjunction with the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce. A crowd of hospital administrators, doctors, medical staff and community members filled the office building’s lobby to greet the new doctors.
The hospital welcomed Dr. Rebecca Coefield-Floyd and Dr. Christina B. McCain of Southeast Georgia Surgery; Dr. Jeff Brunelli of Liberty Orthopedics and Sports Medicine; Dr. LaKimberly Pearson of Liberty Pediatrics; and Dr. Aaron Ford of Liberty Cardiology.
Chamber CEO Leah Poole kicked off the event, receiving those in attendance and introducing the guest speakers, who offered words of welcome to the new doctors.
Hinesville City Councilman Jason Floyd took to the podium and greeted the honorees on behalf of Mayor Jim Thomas, who was unable to attend. Floyd also attended in support of his new bride, Coefield-Floyd.
“We’re looking forward to all of you having a very productive future in Liberty County,” laboratory director Donald Lovette said.
“Dive in — be a part of what we are,” Hospital Authority Chairman Jon Long said. “We hope to get (the new doctors) comfortable and that they hang around and stay with us for a long time.”
Each physician spoke briefly before the crowd moved outside for the ribbon cutting. McCain has been on staff at LRMC for a couple of years, but was welcomed to the group with her practice partner, Coefield-Floyd, who is a recent addition to the team. The duo elicited laughter when they said they were looking forward to performing many surgeries in the future.
Brunelli, who has been at Liberty for a few months, said he has been enjoying getting to know everyone and the work he has done recently with some local high school sports teams. He looks forward to serving those with orthopedic needs.
Pearson is brand new to LRMC, having started part-time in August and full-time last month. A native of Monroe, Va., she comes to LRMC fresh from her residency at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, where she was the chief resident her last year. She decided to come to Liberty because she wants to serve rural areas and believes that excellent health care should be available to all children in all areas. She currently is accepting new patients ages newborn to 18 years.
Ford visited LRMC on a whim with his family from Omaha, Neb., and was impressed with the community and Liberty’s small-town feel. He took a position with the hospital and came to the area in December. Ford officially starts seeing patients this month and said he is excited to be here and to serve those with cardiac needs.
LRMC CEO Scott Kroell welcomed the new physicians.
“It reflects the growth in Liberty and the desire of the community to have good doctors in the county instead of having to go up to Richmond Hill or to Savannah,” he said. “The community demands a certain level of care and we have worked very hard to meet that demand and keep the community happy.”
The crowd moved outside to the office building’s entrance to cut a ribbon and pose for photos. A reception followed in the Liberty Orthopedics office, where Mayor Thomas made an appearance. He personally welcomed each of the new doctors.

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From the book 'Outliers' comes proof that good health is more than just genetics
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Friends Jim Young, left, Mike Natale, Jeff Natale and Ryan Kiernan were on Greenwich High School football team together and Jim and Mike were captains. Jim, who was the youngest in Sherry Young's family, was welcome in the homes of the other three boys who still had siblings around and grandparents near. - photo by Sherry Young
Sherry Young
Deseret News
Published: Apr 12, 2018, 12:59 PM
As I look back on my life and the lives of others, both personally and in the reading I have done, I am convinced of the necessity of positive human contact in our lives. We are doubly blessed when we are able to make good friends or are a part of a family where we are accepted and loved.

Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers tells of a time in the 1950s when Dr. Stewart Wolf met a physician who practiced in the area of Roseto, Pennsylvania. Roseto was settled by a group of Italian families from Roseto, Italy, who re-created their life again in America.

This was in the 1950s before drugs and measures to prevent heart disease became important. In their conversation the physician said, You know, Ive been practicing for 17 years. I get patients from all over, and I rarely find anyone from Roseto under the age of 65 with heart disease.

Wolf was surprised by these words as, It was impossible to be a doctor, common sense said, and not see heart disease.

Wolf enlisted the aid of a sociologist and friend John Bruhn to help him. They found, There was no suicide, no alcoholism, no drug addiction, and very little crime. They didnt have anyone on welfare. Then we looked at peptic ulcers. They didnt have any of those either. These people were dying of old age. Thats it.

They checked into diet, genetics and possibilities of something in the foothills of eastern Pennsylvania but nothing made sense.

What they found was that Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. (Researchers) learned about the extended family clans that underlay the towns social structure. They saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof and how much respect grandparents commanded. They went to Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and saw the unifying and calming effect of the church. They counted 22 separate civic organizations in a town of just under 2,000 people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure their failures.

What they found eventually convinced the medical establishment to look beyond the individual and understand the culture people are part of their friends, families and town they came from. They determined that the people we surround ourselves with and the values of the world we inhabit have a profound effect on who we are.

Likely, this study could have been done with other ethnicities. However, my family's experiences with the Italian families in Connecticut ring true to the study. Our hungry and growing sons, especially our youngest son, Jim, who was left home alone with two beady-eyed parents, all had some memorable experiences being fed and loved in the Cos Cob multigenerational families. Proof of the African proverb, It takes a village to raise a child.

We live in an age when the contact we have with people often is on the internet, and many of us live among strangers. Unless we make the effort to reach out, we will become isolated, especially as we age. The Rosetan study is proof that reaching out and communicating may be good for our health.
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