[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 133 (Wednesday, September 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1831]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COMMENDING JOEL WERNICK

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                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 29, 2010

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a man who 
has greatly improved the medical community of Georgia, Joel Wernick.
  For over 20 years, Mr. Wernick has served as president and CEO of 
Phoebe Putney Health System in Albany, Georgia. Through his 
stewardship, Phoebe Putney has thrived. The number of physicians has 
doubled. The facility has grown by several million square feet, and 
state-of-the-art technologies are now available to the patients.
  Phoebe Putney Health System is the region's largest employer, and is 
comprised of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital, a 450-bed tertiary care 
teaching hospital and Phoebe Worth Medical Center, a critical access 
rural hospital. Phoebe Putney Health System also manages the Southwest 
Georgia Regional Medical Center, Georgia's first critical access 
hospital, in Cuthbert, Georgia. Phoebe Putney oversees the Southwest 
Georgia Family Medicine Residency and is the site for the Medical 
College of Georgia's first satellite clinical campus.
  In 2008, Phoebe Putney Health System helped to rebuild and expand the 
Sumter hospital in Americus, Georgia, after it was destroyed by a 
tornado; Sumter Regional Hospital is now Phoebe Sumter Medical Center 
and is a diversified health care system, complete with Inpatient and 
Outpatient Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services, Outpatient Surgery 
Services, Hospice, Rural Health Care Centers, Migrant Health, School 
Nurse Program and numerous physician specialties and office practices.
  Through Mr. Wernick's excellent guidance, Phoebe has been recognized 
nationally for excellence in clinical quality, operations and community 
health. In 2004, Phoebe was presented the prestigious American Hospital 
Association's Foster G. McGaw Prize. Additionally, the health system 
became the first hospital recipient of a Discovery Health Channel 
Medical Honor. Phoebe also has won three Voluntary Hospitals of 
America, VHA Leadership Awards and the American Hospital Association's 
Nova Award for an innovative teen pregnancy prevention program.
  Mr. Wernick is a native of Arkansas and a proud Razorback, receiving 
his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of 
Arkansas, and earned his master's degree in hospital administration 
from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio.
  He is married to Stacy Wernick, nee Paul. They have one daughter, 
Lilly Katherine. Besides his involvement with multiple local, state and 
national organizations, he takes time to teach as a member of the 
Georgia Southwestern MBA faculty. He has been a Rotarian since 1982, 
and is a Paul Harris Fellow.
  Mr. Wernick is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare 
Executives and is director of the VHA. He is also on the board of VHA-
Georgia, the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, and he is 
Chairman of the Medical Resource Network, a statewide managed care 
network. Mr. Wernick is actively involved in many local civic and 
economic development initiatives. He currently chairs the Southwest 
Georgia Alliance for Progress, a regional coalition to strengthen 
economic, educational and cultural infrastructures.
  Madam Speaker, Joel Wernick has greatly contributed to the lives of 
those in his community and across the State of Georgia through his 
leadership of Phoebe Putney. This year, he has been recognized by 
Georgia Trend magazine for his significant contributions, having been 
named one of the State's top 25 leaders. According to Georgia Trend, he 
``has guided the hospital to a period of historic growth in staff, 
revenues and new services, and has expanded the facility's presence in 
vastly underserved areas in Southwest Georgia.'' For his dedication to 
our region, I wish to commend and congratulate an outstanding leader 
and my friend, Mr. Joel Wernick, on this significant accomplishment.

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