Liberty Regional Medical Center is fortunate to have the facilities and the providers for the community’s health care needs, its CEO said last week.

Speaking to a Liberty County Chamber of Commerce Progress Through People luncheon, Tammy Mims, who has been in charge at LRMC since May 2019, said the hospital is just one of two critical access facilities in the state that still has a labor and delivery room.

“There is a need,” she said. “Twelve hospitals closed their services because it is very, very expensive.”

But even with the labor and delivery room, LRMC staff have to be on their toes. Mims recalled a baby delivered last year in the parking lot when the expectant mom couldn’t make it in time.

LRMC has equipment, providers and specialists beyond its labor and delivery, Mims said.

“We look at what the need is and we work to meet those needs in the community,” she said. “We’re very, very fortunate to have the specialists. A lot of rural hospitals might have one or two primary care doctors.”

Among the specialists is an oncologist, Dr. Ajaz Bulbul, and cancer rates in the community are very high, Mims said. Among the most common are lung cancer in men and prostate cancer, she said.

“We have an unusual amount of prostate cancer,” Mims said.

LRMC also has added nurse practitioner Laura McKay to Dr. Seth Borquaye’s OB/GYN practice. Dr. Borquaye is expected to reduce his workload in the coming months, but the hospital will have a team of four other doctors, including Dr. Keisha Callins.

LRMC also has two general surgeons, Drs. Christina McCain and Rebecca Coefield-Floyd.

“They do a really good job,” Mims said.

Mims added LRMC is fortunate to have Liberty Cardiology, especially with the high number of cardiological problems in the community.

“Our goal is to prevent heart attacks and strokes and keep people healthy,” she said.

Mims also extolled the hospital’s walk-in clinic, especially as an alternative to the emergency room. For those with a case of the sniffles, going to the walk-in clinic is preferable to taking up space and time in the ER, according to Mims.

Last year, the hospital’s emergency department treated almost 30,000 people, Mims noted.

“The other component is you don’t come by yourself,” she said. “We’re the busiest emergency department for a critical access hospital in the state.”

LRMC leaders asked how they can serve patients more efficiently. They came up with the walk-in clinic, which has been open for several years.

“So you have that sinus infection, that might not be emergent, so go to the walkin clinic. You can get in and out very efficient, fast and less expensive,” Mims said.

A wound care center is in the works for Liberty Regional Medical Center as it tackles the top needs from its community-wide health assessment.

With a recent $400,000 gift from Ameris Bank through the Georgia HEART Program, the hospital is forging ahead with the wound care center in the fight to curb diabetes. Many diabetics, Mims pointed out, get wounds that do not close or heal quickly.

“Our biggest ranking that we decided to work on is diabetes,” she said. “We have been fortunate that our authority agreed to open a wound care center.”

The hospital also will hold more health fairs and outreach to educate the populace on preventing and treating diabetes, Mims added.

LRMC also was awarded a stabilization grant for its perinatal program, Moms Hearts Matter. Georgia has one of the nation’s worst maternal mortality rates, and Dr. Dean Burke, an OB-GYN and former state senator tapped by Gov. Brian Kemp to be the Department of Community Health’s chief medical officer, “has begged these hospitals to implement these different programs to help with maternal mortality,” Mims said.

“It is hard to watch a mom have a major stroke or die and have this little infant at home,” Mims said. “We are taking a major effort to put a dent in this. We know those complications can be prevented. We’ve got the state’s attention. So this is very exciting. We might save some lives with our maternal mortality program.”

Challenges remain

Mims acknowledged the hospital also has its share of challenges, the greatest of which is likely workforce.

“We work every day on staffing,” she said, “not only on recruitment but on retention. We’re going to continue to recruit providers to get them to come to our area.”

Mims also cited an expanding number of regulatory burdens, some of which have been spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind nuclear power facilities, hospitals and airlines are neck-and-neck for the most regulated industry, she said, and there currently are 46 regulatory bodies instituting rules and regulations for hospitals.

The hospital also looks each quarter at the services it provides and where the population is going to get health care. Many are going to Savannah’s larger hospitals, Mims said.

But often, the same services are available at LRMC, she added.

“We have the same equipment and sometimes better,” Mims said. “We still have people who choose because they think bigger is better. That’s not always the case. What are those things we can do locally and do them well and try to decrease that outmigration.”

LRMC also has stated its opposition to Memorial HCA setting up a free-standing emergency department in Bryan County.

“We receive a lot of business from Bryan County,” Mims said. “If they are successful, that could be damaging to our facility.”

Among the services Mims wants residents to use is the hospital’s mammography.

“We have low mammography rates in our hospital,” she said. “That’s a simple test. We have the latest and greatest 3D here. That can save someone’s life.”

Mims also pointed out the number of hospital closures there have been in the state over the last decade. Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 120 are designated rural and 104 counties have at least one hospital. That means 55 do not any of the 182 hospitals in the state. Of that number, 30, including LRMC, are what as known as critical access hospitals.

Prior to coming to Hinesville, Mims, whose career includes many years at Memorial in Savannah and chief operating officer at Effingham Hospital, was CEO at Jeff Davis Hospital in Hazlehurst. The hospital in the adjacent county, Telfair, had closed its doors in 2012.

“That’s not only devastating to that county,” she said, “but to the county next to it.”

Since 2013, there have been 17 hospital closures in the state and the majority have been small, rural hospitals, Mims noted.

“It’s not all the merger of smaller hospitals reaching out to bigger hospitals to merge with them to potentially survive,” she said.

Also on the hospital’s needs list are roofing, generators and a medical air system.

Last year, the hospital had close to $6.5 million in uncompensated care. The hospital’s debt service, near $2.7 million in 2020, was just under $1.9 million for 2022.

Mims urged people to take advantage of the Georgia HEART Program to help small hospitals, particularly LRMC.

“We are leaving millions on the table in free money,” she said. “Guess how much of your taxes stays in Atlanta? Eighty-two percent. What do they do with your tax money in Atlanta? They build roads. So please consider going to Georgia HEART.org. It doesn’t cost you anything. You’re saying you want this to come back to your county.

“To be a successful community hospital, it takes the support of the community.”