Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) generates nearly $7.5 billion in local and state economic impact according to a recent report by the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA), the state’s largest hospital trade association.
The report found that, in 2022, NGMC directly and indirectly sustained nearly 30,000 full-time jobs throughout the region and state.
The more than $84 million in total estimated charity care, which provides financial assistance to people who meet certain criteria and cannot afford to pay all or portions of their medical bills, doesn’t include unpaid bills that are written off.
It also doesn’t include the more than $17 million NGMC provided in community outreach such as free screenings and health education.
The report also revealed that the hospital had direct expenditures of more than $2.1 billion in 2022. It also considers the “ripple” effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy such as medical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals – as well as restaurants, computer services and accounting.
About the Author
Ken Stanford is Online News Editor for GLORY 97.5, a position he has held since August 2022.
Ken was born in Moultrie, Georgia, and says he knew from the time he was 5 or 6 he wanted to be a “radio announcer.” That dream was realized when he was hired by Moultrie radio station WMTM in 1960 at the age of 15 as a weekend disc jockey. A 1963 graduate of Moultrie (now Colquitt County) High School, he has spent his whole career in Georgia working for stations in Atlanta, Marietta, and Gainesville – most recently as News Director for 40 years at WDUN in Gainesville. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Reserves.
Ken retired in 2011 but came out of retirement last year to help GLORY, on a part-time basis, beef-up its online news presence.
He is the recipient of many Associated Press awards and is a former judge of state and national Associated Press broadcast news contests. In 2005, he was presented with the Georgia Associated Press Broadcasters Association’s President’s Award for Excellence in Journalism and in 2019 was inducted into the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.
He lives in Gainesville with his wife of 52 years, the former Sandra McKnight of Clio, Alabama, and they have one child, a daughter, Lisa, who lives in Cumming with her family.
