Letters of Support for GRHealth Columbia County

We greatly appreciate your willingness to write a letter of support for GRU Columbia County. Your support will be considered by the Department of Community Health in determining whether to approve a new hospital for Columbia County and if so, which health system proposes the best project with the greatest benefit to community residents. Please review the information below regarding the contents of your letter.

Please include the following specific information as applicable:

• Title or position
• How long you have worked at your current position
• If you live in Columbia County or any of the other service area counties (Lincoln, McDuffie, Wilkes, Warren, and Taliaferro)
• Any unique role or involvement with Columbia County

Please consider the following topics for your letter:

Need for a Hospital

•  Residents of Columbia County and surrounding counties need great local access to hospital services.
• Columbia County is the largest county in Georgia (by population) without its own hospital.
• Columbia County is rapidly growing resulting in even more need for a local hospital.
• The growing elderly population in Columbia County need greater local access without having to travel to Augusta for care.
• Without a local hospital, Columbia County has lacked good community outreach about health education, which is vital for both young people and older people as they face higher risk of chronic disease.

Why GRMC is the best health system to build the new hospital:

• Only GRMC is an existing teaching hospital and will bring teaching to the new hospital to provide for training for more physicians, nurses and allied health professionals, which are all needed.
• Only GRMC will offer Level II Trauma services linked to the Level I Trauma care at GRMC. Trauma designation with greatly enhance access and reduce travel times in life threatening situations.
• Only GRMC will provide state-of-the-art technology through its relationship with Philips and Cerner bringing the highest level of care to Columbia County.
• GRMC proposes the most far-reaching plans with teaching and trauma services resulting in more high paying jobs in the area.