March 24, 2026 NGHS hospitals win statewide patient safety awards View »

Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville, Habersham and Barrow were recently awarded four of Georgia Hospital Association's (GHA) Patient Safety and Quality Awards. From L-R: Lynne Krieger, Deb Sailor, Valerie McBean, Yolanda Oakley, Stuart Downs, Beth Hester, Rachel Lewallen, Valeria Lewis, Samantha Underwood, Melissa Frank, Nicole Dunn, Kim Smith, Sandy Bozarth.

Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) is continually looking for ways to improve experiences for patients, and safety is the top priority when they visit a Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) hospital campus. That focus was recently recognized as the Georgia Hospital Association presented four of its Patient Safety and Quality Awards to NGMC Gainesville, Habersham and Barrow.

"We always start with safety at NGHS," said Matt Hanley, MD, president and CEO of NGHS. "It's something our teams are committed to and prioritize every day, and these awards are direct evidence that their dedication is improving peoples' lives."

NGMC Habersham won first place in the Hospitals With Less Than 100 Beds category for its project focused on reducing the time it takes for a patient to be placed in an inpatient bed after being evaluated in the emergency department. Thanks to the staff's collaborative work, NGMC Habersham saw a 61% increase in getting patients to beds in a timely manner, which directly impacts patient safety, reduces crowding in the emergency department and supports more timely access to care.

NGMC Habersham was also presented with the Circle of Excellence Award, which is awarded to a hospital that wins an award in the current year as well as three or more awards within the previous five years.

NGMC Gainesville won third place in the Josh Nahum Award for Infection Prevention and Control category for its project focused on reducing infections for patients in the hospital. The Infection Prevention and Control team created an online communication hub that provides staff with educational materials, clinical guidelines and operational resources that helped reduce catheter-acquired urinary tract infections and central line-associated bloodstream infections.

At NGMC Barrow, a project focused on falls won third place in the Hospitals With Less Than 100 Beds category. Staff developed a plan that successfully reduced falls by:

• Introducing a "No Pass Zone" to ensure no staff member walks past any type of alarm without responding.
• Charge nurses review all high-risk patients at the start of each shift to ensure a Fall Prevention kit is available for patients who are at a higher risk of falling. The kit includes a yellow gown, yellow socks, yellow armband, bed/chair alarms, a gait belt for walking support and a virtual monitoring device.
• Discovering the root cause of most falls came from patients trying to use the restroom without assistance. So, the hospital placed bedside commodes in the Emergency Department.

To learn more about NGHS and its five acute care hospitals across the region, visit nghs.com.