Americus, Albany hospitals to merge operations

Local residents examine overturned vehicle in SRH parking lot on March 2, 2007, the morning after the tornado struck. (file/Dave Bender)

Officials at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus have decided to lease operations to Albany's Phoebe Putney Health System.

Sumter Regional was destroyed by a tornado on March 1, 2007.

Wrecking crews demolishing Sumter Regional Hospital earlier this year. The facility was severely damaged by a twister that tore through Americus on March 1, 2007. (file/Dave Bender)

Patients have been using temporary facilities nearby, and relying on other area hospitals for more comprehensive medical services since then.

Hospital officials say Phoebe Putney will add at least $25 million dollars to rebuild SRH, and will provide core primary and emergency services, according to a report in the Albany Herald newspaper.

Both hospitals are expected to finalize the agreement by the New Year.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado, and it's effect on SRH and Americus.

FEMA to cover most of Americus hospital rebuilding

Wrecking crews demolishing Sumter Regional Hospital earlier this year. The facility was severely damaged by a twister that tore through Americus on March 1, 2007. (Dave Bender/file photo)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)has approved 75 percent of a $7.4 million dollar bill for rebuilding Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, ravaged by a tornado in 2007.

The $5.5 million FEMA aid will help equip several departments, including operating rooms and cardiac care.

State and local funding is expected to cover the remainder of the cost, according to a statement from the Governor's Office.

The hospital served as the primary care facility for seven counties until it was destroyed when a twister that ripped through Americus on March first of last year.

Meanwhile, patients are using temporary facilities nearby, that opened on April 1.

Two of a series of COGIM units set up in the hospital's parking lot, which serve patients in the interim, until a permanent facility is built. (Dave Bender/file photo)

Hospital officials say they hope to break ground on a permanent structure in early 2009.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the twister's damage to SRH and Americus.

Sumter Regional close to full service

Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus will be back open for full-service business starting tomorrow. Since a tornado ripped through the town March 1st, 2007, the facility has been able to provide only urgent care out of tents and modular buildings. Now the hospital will be able to offer the full menu of services--surgical to inpatient--in its 76-bed facility. A permanent replacement hospital will be opened in 2010 after ground is broken in October. Last March, the storms that swept through Georgia killed nine people in Sumter, Taylor, and Baker counties--accounting for more than 210-million dollars in damage.

Americus: One year since deadly twister

Wrecking crews demolish ruins of Sumter Regional Hospital, severely damaged by the storm, February, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Governor Sonny Perdue and state officials will attend memorial services in Americus today, commemorating the one-year anniversary of a tornado that devastated the town.

The F-3 twister took two lives, and left a two-mile swath of destruction through the town on the night of March first, 2007.

Then and now: Doctor's Pharmacy, Americus, in Feb., 2008, and on the morning after the storm, March 2, 2007. (Dave Bender)

Perdue will join local officials and residents in mourning their loss, but, looking to a brighter future:

An anonymous donor has given a $1 million dollar donation to reconstruction efforts at the town's Sumter Regional Hospital, destroyed by the storm.

The SRH Foundation has received close to $4 million dollars in donations and equipment, according to local reports.

COGIM units set up in the hospital's parking lot, will serve patients in the interim until a permanent facility is built. (February, 2008/Dave Bender)

A temporary, 76-bed acute-care center will serve the community until a permanent hospital is built. It is slated to open in 2010. More information is available on the Internet at http://www.sumterregional.org.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado and the reconstruction.

Americus, hospital plan to rebuild from the ruins

Sumter Regional Hospital, Americus, Ga., Feb. 4, 2008. (Dave Bender)

On March first of last year, a tornado ripped through Americus, killing two and devastating the community. What did the city learn and what are their plans if such a disaster strikes again?

The force-3 twister ripped apart lives, homes, businesses and vehicles in a two-mile wide-swath of destruction. Although much of the external damage has been fixed, city and county officials are still dealing with deeper issues of planning and preparation.

Mary Ann Crowley directs the Americus chapter of Habitat for Humanity:

“These kinds of events and catastrophes in the lives of communities are not 30-minute sitcoms. They don't start and end when you want them to. You can't do the instant replay and skip the parts that you don't like.”

Crowley says that long time residents of Habitat homes damaged in the tornado faced a welter of legal and insurance issues over ownership, that only a year later have been cleared up.

Little of the physical damage is left, according to Americus Mayor Barry Blount:

"Within 69 days the community was, essentially, cleaned up. The rebuilding, reconstruction has gone on - if you ride through town, you can see new buildings have been put up in place of the buildings that have been destroyed. We do still have some structures that are still, haven't been rebuilt; there are still some issues with insurance companies...”

But the biggest issue in town is the local hospital. Sumter County Regional was destroyed by the tornado.

A new interim facility will open in March, exactly one year after the disaster. A completely new hospital is planned to open by 2010.

The hospital is holding a fundraiser – one of several. They're selling off the bricks of the original 1953 structure, after the bulldozers bring them down.

But other shocks to Sumter County's system are still not resolved.

Blount says there's still no county-wide emergency warning system. The city has turned to the Federal and Georgia Emergency Management Authorities for help:

“We've applied for some grants from FEMA and GEMA; thus far, we have not received any for an emergency warning system.”

Blount is hopeful he'll get such a system in the coming year. But one thing has changed for the better since the tornado - communication between the Police, Sheriffs Department, city and county rescue services:

“We have rectified that, so that now all the different emergency personnel can communicate with one another.”

Turning to the home front, Blount says he's told residents that first and foremost they have to get their own houses in order. That means a supply of non-perishable food, water, an evacuation plan and an emergency radio with fresh batteries.

Blount's comments echo the “YOYO-72” idea, stressing individual preparation: You're On You're On for the first 72-hours.

On February 29th, Americus is planning a commemoration of that tornado-stricken night.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado, and efforts to rebuild Americus and lives affected by the storms.

Twister-hit hospital selling bricks for new building

Destroyed vehicle in SRH parking lot. Hospital is in the background, March 2, 2007. (Dave Bender)

The hospital destroyed in a tornado that ripped through Americus nearly a year ago is for sale - one brick at a time.

Sumter Regional Hospital is selling bricks from the building ripped apart by the March 1st, 2007, storm to help pay for a new hospital. For months, doctors treated more than 5,400 patients in eight counties in tents set up near the hospital.

Since then, the facility has operated in a temporary structure.

Basic medical triage services were held in several tents like these, set up in the hospital's parking lot. March 2, 2007. (Dave Bender)

The bricks go for $25, $50 and $100 each. For more information, contact the hospital's marketing department at (229) 928-4000.

(Dave Bender)
The tornadoes killed nine people in Sumter, Taylor and Baker counties, and caused more than 210 million dollars in damage, demolishing dozens of Georgia homes and businesses.

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the twister and its aftermath.

(The Associated Press)

Rosalynn Carter, Senate president to aid Americus hospital

Local residents examine overturned vehicle in SRH parking lot the morning after the tornado struck. (Dave Bender)

Georgia Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter are teaming up to help Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus win a new, million-dollar MRI scanner, according to hospital officials.

The hospital used the diagnostic tool to serve thousands of area residents. But twisters that ripped through the town on March 1st destroyed the facility, ruining their existing scanner.

Officials say a new hospital is slated to open it's doors in 2010.

Americus is close to Carter's hometown, Plains.

Click here for more GPB coverage of the storm's aftermath.

Americus hospital rises from rubble

Construction workers at Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, ravaged by a twister on March 1st, have erected the first of a series of COGIM temporary facilities.

COGIM unit. (Photo courtesy of The Americus Times-Recorder)

The 70,000-sq. ft. facility will hold 76-beds, and be fully functional, hospital officials say.

Federal and state organizations, donors and local volunteer groups been active in caring for SRH patients in the interim, as the construction continues.

SRH the day after the tornado struck. (Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of the tornado and the aftermath.

$28M for tornado recovery

Georgia will have access to $28-million state and federal relief funds to help recover from March tornadoes. Today Governor Sonny Perdue announced the money for eligible people and communities in Sumter and surrounding counties in southeast Georgia. 15 counties hit by tornadoes March 1st received a Presidential Disaster Declaration. One tornado destroyed Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus. Nine people died in the storms.

Click here for a breakdown of where the aid is going, and more GPB coverage of the twisters that swept through southwest Georgia.

Americus: FEMA pledges funding for hospital

Americus residents inspect overturned SUV, shattered hospital
building at Sumter Regional. (Dave Bender)

The Federal Emergency Management Bureau has pledged to provide significant financial aid to Sumter Regional Hospital, hammered by a tornado on March 1st.

The announcement came on Friday as 60 temporary housing units, known as COGIM arrived at the facility's parking-lot.

Hospital CEO and President David Seagraves told reporters at the site,

“We are happy to say that FEMA is on board on the financial side of things to build a new hospital...”

Hospital CFO Troy Hammett told the Americus Times-Recorder:

“FEMA’s not committed to paying a dollar amount, just 75 percent of what’s left after the insurance pays.”

Hospital officials say the interim facility is expected to begin handling patients in November.

Click here for more GPB News reports on this story.

Twinned Japanese city group visits Americus

Group members meet with Sumter Middle School Principal,
Mrs. Carolyn Hamilton. Center: Superintendent Sawako Hisashi.
(Courtesy Sumter Co. School Board)

Seven adults and 35-schoolchildren from sister city Miyoshi City - Konu Town, are visiting under the auspices of a municipal friendship pact.

The group will take part in a memorial for the two victims of the twister that tore through the city on March 1st.

Map showing twister's destructive swath.
Click photo for larger image. (Dave Bender)

A Sumter County Board of Education official told the Americus Times-Recorder the sister city donated $14,000 to Americus, which used the funds to purchase the memorial.

The group will stay with host families, and students will attend a local school and take part in other events with their Georgian counterparts.

Previous GPB News coverage of the tornado is here.

Americus: insurer okay's razing Sumter Regional Hosp.

Americus residents inspect overturned SUV, shattered hospital
building at Sumter Regional. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Officials at the regional care facility, which sustained severe structural and water damage from a tornado on March 1st, said the building will be razed.

There was uncertainty over the past few months as to the outcome of the hospital insurer's final assessment of the extent of the damage.

David Seagraves, President and CEO told reporters that the hospital's administration felt, "it would not have been the proper solution to go back into this old building.”

Officials say they hope a new facility will be ready by 2010.

For previous GPB News reports on the twister that ripped through Americus, and the aftermath, click here.

For an audio slideshow on the extent of the damage, and how the staff coped, click here.

Sumter Regional Hospital website.

Americus: Sumter Hospital to get almost $10 M

Vehicle flipped over by tornado in Sumter Regional
Hospital's parking lot. (Photo: Dave Bender)

FEMA will provide Sumter Hospital in Americus over nine-million-dollars in funding for temporary facilities. Both the hospital and the town sustained severe damage from a lethal twister on March 1st.

The funds are part of two projects to construct temporary facilities, known as COGIM units, until the main hospital is rebuilt.

Ambulance off-loads patient at hospital's makeshift
tent-triage area. (Photo: Dave Bender)

One project is for the structure's outer shell, and will cost just over $2 million dollars. The second, which will kit out the facility's interior, will run to almost seven-and-a-half-million dollars. The say the total bill for the renovation will cost nearly $12.5 million dollars.

Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson announced the step on Monday.
Both termed the cash influx as vital, and praised the hospital and the community's ability to cope with hardships in the tornado's wake.

FEMA will distribute the money to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, who will in turn disburse the funds to cover the project's expenses.

Sumter Hospital gets new facilities

Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, destroyed by a twister on March 1st is getting new temporary structures, until a new facility is built.

The federal and Georgia emergency management teams supplied the modular structures. They say the pre-fab rooms will allow the hospital to treat a fuller range of medical needs.

Federal, state and local officials unveiled the structures at a press conference Friday afternoon, held in the hospital's parking lot.

Sumter has been using mobile homes, trailers and hard-walled tents in the parking lot to treat patients since the tornado on March first. These facilities were limited, and most cases were transferred to other area hospitals.

Ambulance staffer fills out patient forms outside of
temporary facility. (Photo: Dave Bender)

Officials say this is the first time the rooms, made by an Italian company, are being used as a hospital facility in the United States.

Construction workers outside hospital building,
after twister. (Photo: Dave Bender)

More information on the hospital is here.

Emergency responders reflect on tornadoes

Tornadoes were at the top of the agenda today at the Governor's Emergency Management Conference in Savannah. Sumter County emergency officials told colleagues from across the state about the steep challenges they faced three months ago when deadly twisters struck.

For example -- nine emergency operators were handling 400 911 calls an hour from seven counties. Americus police and firefighters lost radio communications for up to three hours. Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, which serves eight counties, was nearly destroyed by a direct hit from a tornado.

Since then, Sumter County officials say they have made improvements such as adding a phone bank to the 911 center … and getting backup generators for radio systems.

Sumter Hospital to be razed, rebuilt

Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, shattered by a lethal tornado on March 1st, will be rebuilt from the ground up.

Sumter Hospital media director Marcus Johnson told GPB News that rebuilding the center will take between 18 and 36 months.

He said a semi-permanent structure with surgical facilities and wards will be opened by the end of September.

Patients are currently being treated in a series of hard-walled tents in the hospital's parking lot.

In related news, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and Columbus Regional Hospital donated $50,000 and $20,000 dollars, respectively, to Sumter's “Indestructible” campaign.

The drive is aimed at gathering funds to rebuild the facility.

The two organizations join local, state and national institutions that have come to the hard-hit area's aid since the storm.

Sumter Regional Hospital.

Sumter County tornado aid tops $11M

Path of March 1 tornado through Americus, GA.
Click on image for larger view. (Dave Bender)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) say that over $11.1 million in federal disaster aid has been approved for area residents, The Americus Times-Recorder reports.

The Disaster Loan Outreach Center located in Sumter County will close Wednesday, May 2. The center was set up in the wake of the lethal tornado that mauled Americus and other areas in southwestern Georgia on March 1.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), in a press release urges disaster victims to "visit the Center before the closing to obtain one-on-one assistance and information about SBA's disaster assistance program."

The Center is located at:
John Pope Industrial Center - Business Expansion Department.
South Georgia Technical College
900 South GA Tech Parkway
Americus, GA 31709
Open: Monday-Wednesday
Hours: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Closes: Wednesday, May 2 at the close of business

More information about the SBA's Disaster Loan Programs is available here: http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance

Overturned vehicle at Sumter Regional Hospital,
ravaged by tornado's winds.
Click on image for larger view. (Dave Bender)

Lawmakers move slowly on big agenda

State lawmakers have returned from their week-long spring break, but House Speaker Glenn Richardson says he wants the part-time legislature to go home for good.

"I see no reason to continue to perpetuate this session," Richardson told the Georgia House. "It’s time to get our work done and adopt the budgets and go back to our families and businesses."

Richardson says he wants to wrap up the session on Friday, April 20, even if the House and Senate cannot agree on the budget. The chambers are at odds discretionary spending in the 2007 amended budget, which contains millions of dollars in emergency funds for the bankrupt Peachcare child health plan and tornado-stricken central Georgia. The Senate has accused the House of padding the document. Meanwhile, neither chamber has voted on the budget for the 2008 fiscal year, which begins on June 1.

As they wait to address the big-ticket items, House members are voting on little. The chamber passed just one item Tuesday: a resolution sponsored by Rep. Mike Cheokas (D-Americus) urging Turkey to recognize the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians.

"This resolution is a small way that we can promote our values and our faith in God in other countries," Cheokas explained.

Storm damage estimates coming in

The early estimate of 'insured losses' in southwest Georgia after the storms of late last week, was put at 35-million dollars. But that number was likely to go up as more information comes in. The estimate came from State Insurance and Fire commissioner John Oxendine in his early tour of damage. Governor Sonny Perdue in his tour of the affected areas, called the damage "much more significant than I had hoped". President Bush visited people in Sumter County and Americus on Saturday, meeting with residents and state and local officials.

In the wake of the deadly storms that moved through Georgia Thursday into Friday, a disaster recovery center is opening in Americus. The center to help tornado victims will open today at NOON--at 1607 Martin Luther King Boulevard. It will stay open through Saturday, 8am to 6:30 pm each day. Those affected in Sumter County can register at the center for 'disaster assistance' and other programs.