[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2398]
[From the U.S. 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 
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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