[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 25, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H597-H598]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO JOHN A. FERGUSON, JR.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Deal) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. DEAL of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and a
distinguished privilege for me today to address the colleagues of the
House to honor a man who has accomplished more for northeast Georgia
over the past 40 years than most people will do in an entire lifetime.
Health care is more accessible and a higher quality exists and
surpasses that of many metropolitan areas. Our economy has expanded
exponentially for decades. Thousands of jobs have been created, and
hundreds of thousands of lives have been improved because of the
efforts of this one man. I would like my colleagues to join me in
honoring my friend and a community service leader, Mr. John A.
Ferguson, Jr., as he retires as president and CEO of Northeast Georgia
Medical Center and Health System in Gainesville, Georgia.
In 1964, at the age of 23, John came to the Northeast Georgia Medical
Center as the first hospital engineer in the State of Georgia. And
although he currently held a master's degree in engineering from
Georgia Tech, he was determined to continue his education and work to
obtain an additional master's degree in health care administration from
Georgia State University. At that time, Northeast Georgia Medical
Center was known as Hall County Hospital and was a single-entity acute
care hospital with only 147 beds and 430 employees.
Within 1 year of being on the staff, John was named assistant
administrator, and at the age of 28 he became the youngest hospital
administrator and CEO in the State in 1968. Within 10 years of his
promotion to CEO, the hospital's acute care bed size had almost
doubled, a dedicated 10-bed ICU and 10-bed CCU had been added, as well
as a 20-bed mental health unit. From there, northeast Georgia's health
care system and quality of life continued under John's leadership. It
continued to grow and to improve on an annual basis.
In 1986, he lead NGMC through corporate reorganization, which enabled
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the organization to expand health care services across county lines and
improve access to health care for citizens throughout northeast Georgia
who previously had to drive to Gainesville for most of their primary
health care services.
Today, Northeast Georgia Health System is a major provider of health
care services for 20 counties in northeast Georgia. It has over 3,500
employees and one of the largest and most active volunteer programs in
the State. The system now includes a freestanding mental health,
alcohol, and drug abuse treatment facility, two long-term care
facilities, a satellite cancer center in Stephens County, a hospice
service and two hospital campuses with a total of 418 acute inpatient
beds. Other major services that have been added under John's leadership
include the Ronnie Green Heart Center and Stribling Heart Clinic for
advanced heart care, the only comprehensive cancer care service in the
region; a strong network over 14 primary care centers located in eight
counties; a neonatal intensive care service; and a comprehensive
physical rehabilitation institute.
Fortunately for northeast Georgia, John has always understood that to
truly impact the health of the community, services cannot be contained
within the walls of the hospital. His vision for a healthier community
coupled with a heart for people who depend on NGMC for health care
services paved the way for a strong relationship with the Hall County
Health Department. In the late 1970s, working with the health
department, NGMC implemented a midwifery program to extend prenatal
care to indigent patients who did not have resources to access private
providers of services.
John's vision for a healthier community has resulted in numerous
other innovative outreach initiatives. In the early 1990s, NGMC lead a
collaborative community effort with local schools, the health
department, the Junior League, and other service organizations to
generate funds for a mobile health unit to provide basic health care
screenings and services to people who had limited resources to access
other traditional health care services. NGMC has continued to fund and
help staff this service since its inception.
Through the Medical Center Foundation, health initiatives operated by
other community service organizations have been supported. More than
$300,000 was raised to help fund construction of a free medical and
dental clinic for persons who have no resources for care. Since
completion of the clinic, the medical center has continued to help fund
clinical supplies through the indigent care trust fund for volunteer
physicians, dentists, and nurses who staff the clinic. Funds have also
been raised for numerous other health-related community benefits, such
as the Meals on Wheels program for provision of meals to homebound
seniors, the SafeKids Playground at Fair Street Elementary School in
Gainesville, automatic external defibrillators for emergency response
vehicles in Hall County, and the Challenged Child Organization.
Northeast Georgia Health System is the lead agency for SafeKids since
1997 and currently works with 21 community agencies to develop and fund
initiatives to decrease the rate of accidental injuries to children.
The SafeKids Coalition has received numerous State and national awards
and was recently recognized as National Coalition of the Year.
John's vision for high-quality health care services and his heart for
the people who depend on Northeast Georgia Health System have
unquestionably made an impact on the community and the health and
quality of life in Hall and surrounding counties. I commend Mr. John A.
Ferguson as a man who has served our community well and commend him to
his retirement.
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