It’s been ten years already since Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton (NGMC Braselton) opened its doors.
“Our plan for Braselton was to do exactly what our mission urges us to do – improve the health of our community in all we do,” said Anthony Williamson, who led the design and construction, and then served as president of NGMC Braselton from its opening day in 2015 through 2024. “We knew there was a tremendous need to make healthcare services more accessible in the Braselton area.”
The vision quickly became reality when the hospital opened its doors in 2015, as the number of people who came there for care far surpassed initial projections. In the decade that’s followed, the hospital has seen more than 10,000 deliveries, almost 500,000 emergency department visits and cared for more than 81,000 patients who needed to stay in the hospital. Staff have performed more than 750,000 lab tests and delivered over 1 million meals to patients’ rooms – while serving another 3.5 million meals to visitors in the café.
“We joke that we’ve had a crane at the hospital every day since it opened, and that’s not far from the truth,” said Kevin Matson, who succeeded Williamson and now serves as NGHS vice president of Regional Hospitals in the system’s southern market with oversight of NGMC Braselton and NGMC Barrow. “We’re in the midst of an expansion project now that’s adding two more floors to the main tower, which will be complete this summer, and will triple the size of the emergency room in 2026.”
The hospital opened with 100 beds, and the count is already up to 188 with more on the way. The campus also includes three medical office buildings.
During the past decade, NGHS has recruited more than 150 physicians to NGPG and Georgia Heart Institute practices in the Braselton area. NGHS has also invested more than $1 billion in hospital expansions and medical office buildings in communities near the hospital including Hoschton, Dacula, Hamilton Mill, Auburn, Jefferson and Buford. And that number doesn’t include the cost of care when patients don’t have the ability to pay or the expense of community outreach such as free screenings and health education seminars.
When the hospital was nearing completion ten years ago, NGHS estimated that NGMC Braselton would initially create more than 500 new jobs. But today, there are nearly 2,000 staff members working in the Braselton market.
The community has been equally supportive of NGHS. Over the last 10 years, the NGHS Foundation has supported NGMC Braselton with $10 million in facility enhancements, expansions, complementary services, equipment, workforce development and support programs. And, then there are the donors who have been generous with their monetary help and those who have devoted more than 138,000 hours of volunteer service to the hospital.
(NGHS photo: A 3-story addition to NGMC Braselton is under construction.)
