In the past 65 years, South Georgia Medical Center has evolved from a small 100-bed facility known as Pineview General Hospital to a vast regional health system with a combined licensed bed capacity of 480, serving patients in a 15-county area.

"The fundamental purpose of health delivery system is to coordinate healthcare among a vast array of disciplines and services for the benefit of those residing in the communities it serves, regardless of who they are," says SGMC President and CEO Ronald E. Dean. "I believe our healthcare delivery team has been doing just that, serving this mission continuously for 65 years."

SGMC is fully accredited by The Joint Commission, the highest mark of quality in the healthcare field, and has earned numerous recognitions at the state and national level. With a team that represents approximately 2,700 employees and a staff of more than 400 medical professionals, SGMC's health delivery system includes four hospital facilities, dozens of specialty clinics, and a primary care network with offices in Valdosta, Lakeland, Nashville, and Hahira.

"It is because of the commitment of our remarkable physicians, employees, volunteer, and the many people who have served SGMC, we find ourselves even stronger and look forward to a bright future," Dean says. READ MORE

When Joe Kem Lacey was given a friend's barbecue recipe, he didn't know it would be the start of a family business.

As the story goes, it was "sauce for sauce," says Lacey, who recalls that he would give a friend a bottle of Black Velvet whiskey in exchange for some homemade barbecue sauce.

"It was some of the best barbecue sauce I ever tasted," says Lacey, who received the recipe when his friend died. "I made some adjustments…I'll admit it was a little too hot for me," and that was the beginning of Joe Kem's BBQ Sauce.

Some 20 plus years later, Joe Kem's BBQ Sauce is now available in sweet, mild, and hot flavors at regional retail shops throughout South Georgia. The award-winning trio of sauces and a dry rub have been featured in national publications, including Southern Living, and in 2016 received the Grand Prize (sauces category) in the Flavor of Georgia competition.

"It's even good on your finger," Lacey says about the sauces. "And if you don't believe me, it says it right on the bottle." READ MORE

The journey to small business ownership began several years ago. In 2015, Anne Shenton and Steven Carter started Ascend Inbound Marketing, a division of Nexxtep Technology Services, located in Valdosta, Georgia. A few years later, Gretchen Elliott joined the Ascend team, and the marketing agency continued to expand its services and client base.

"We started Ascend as a little marketing agency within Nexxtep," Shenton says. "We found that businesses don't traditionally turn to their IT company for marketing and website design. They typically turn to a marketing agency. That's why we decided to brand Ascend differently, to create a new culture and identity within Nexxtep."

In July 2020, when Nexxtep was purchased by Dynamic Quest, Ascend was not part of the acquisition. Change in the corporate structure provided Shenton, Carter, and Elliott with the opportunity to purchase Ascend Inbound Marketing.

Wanting to continue providing their clients with strategies and tools to reach their growth potential, Shenton, Carter, and Elliott officially purchased Ascend on Oct. 5, 2020. READ MORE

Whole person approach—it’s a word that’s been said time and time again since the opening of PCOM South Georgia in Moultrie.

PCOM South Georgia educates and trains students to become Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO), fully licensed physicians who examine and treat patients, prescribe medication and practice in a wide variety of specialties such as family medicine, emergency medicine, pediatrics, radiology or surgery. The options are numerous, and that future is being trained right here in South Georgia.

Words like whole person and hands-on are often used to describe osteopathic medicine, and it’s something that’s clear to see when a patient visits a DO for treatment. Patients receive the same level of care as they would with any other physician, but osteopathic physicians are trained to have an extra skill set. They fully see their patients, meeting them with empathy and care. This kind

of physician is especially beneficial to rural areas as they are trained to focus on the whole person, which means looking at the lifestyle, diet and mental health of their patients. In addition, DOs are trained in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), which are techniques that allow them to use their hands to diagnose injury and illness and encourage the body's natural tendency toward good health. Using OMT, an osteopathic physician learns to move a patient’s muscles and joints using techniques that include stretching, gentle pressure and resistance—that’s the DO difference. READ MORE

The year 2020 will be remembered as the year of chaos. A global pandemic paralyzed the normal life we were all accustomed to and are still trying to rebound. For small business owners, it has been challenging to navigate the pandemic world of changes while still trying to meet their customers' needs. To stay above water, business owners had to leverage around uncertainty and pivot their businesses as circumstances changed. Being proactive and adaptive has been one of the most beneficial steps a small business owner could achieve. Unfortunately for some, waiting out the pandemic before reopening their business as it was before may have been a bad decision.

Two main areas most small business owners found important during the pandemic were an online presence and accurate bookkeeping. Businesses that had an online presence were able to capitalize on this approach, even if their physical location was temporarily closed. Selling products online and informing customers about changes in business hours and other options on their website and social media helped customers make informed decisions.

Mediacom Communications is contributing $10,000 to Second Harvest of South Georgia as part of a larger $100,000 donation to support regional food banks that assist individuals and families in communities where the company delivers Gigabit-speed internet service.

Second Harvest of South Georgia, Inc. works through a network of local partners to provide nutritious food to individuals and families across 26 Georgia counties. The region parallels an area where Mediacom’s fiber-based broadband network is available to homes and businesses in more than 35 communities.

Mediacom operates customer service centers in Americus, Bainbridge, Fitzgerald, Thomasville, Tifton and Valdosta, and those communities are among the many served by Second Harvest and its partner organizations. The $10,000 contribution is being made on behalf of Mediacom’s Georgia employees and is one of multiple cash donations given to local food banks affiliated with Feeding America. READ MORE