Jennifer Hilliard - 2007 September 27
Georgia Correctional HealthCare, which provides health care to more than 48,000 prisoners, is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
A ceremony to recognize the anniversary is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 2 at noon in the chapel of Augusta State Medical Prison in Grovetown. Medical College of Georgia president Daniel W. Rahn, and Mr. James Donald, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, will present service awards to 10-year employees from the Augusta region.
Ceremonies recognizing employees from other regions are also scheduled across the state throughout the month.
GCHC is the MCG division that manages health care for correctional facilities statewide. Through an interagency agreement with the Georgia Department of Corrections, the division manages units at 37 state prisons, three boot camps, 19 probation detention centers and 10 transition centers. Each facility has medical capabilities specific to the size and mission of the site.
Since 1997, GCHC’s priorities have been quality health care and cost-effectiveness. It hasn’t always been easy, says Bob Bradford, managing director of GCHC.
"We face a lot of the problems that plague other health care facilities, but our problems are often multiplied,” he says. “For instance, workforce shortages are exacerbated because of the difficulties we face recruiting people to work in the prison system.”
A growing inmate population, many with advanced chronic diseases that are often lifestyle-related, also drives up the cost of health care for prisoners, Mr. Bradford says. “Illicit drug use, which may be what landed someone in prison in the first place, takes its toll,” he says. “A lot of our inmates have a pretty bad track record when it comes to making healthy choices. While we don’t have a high percentage of elderly inmates, their health ages are generally more advanced than normal. Because of that we do a lot of disease management.” Much of the care takes place at GCHC facilities to minimize costs.
“While there is the motivation of community safety to keep prisoners within the walls of the prison system, it also helps keep costs down,” Mr. Bradford says. “We have the ability to do things like ambulatory surgery, nuclear medicine, MRIs, CT scans, all inside our facilities.”
For more information about GCHC and the anniversary celebration, call at 706-721-0822.