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Article Category: Newsroom

Southside Medical Center and Wellstar Partner to Enhance the Health of Atlanta Communities

Partnership to Transform Care Through Expanded Access to Preventive and Primary Care Services

Published on October 20, 2022

Last updated 10:56 AM October 20, 2022

Wellstar Health System

Wellstar Health System and Southside Medical Center are announcing a new partnership to improve primary and preventive care throughout Atlanta communities. Together, the organizations will focus on expanding access to preventive, whole-person care and chronic disease support, rather than treating patients episodically when they are acutely sick or injured without guaranteed follow up.

As the first step in this collaboration, Wellstar will invest nearly $5 million toward expanding primary care services for thousands of East Point residents at Southside Medical Center’s East Point clinic located at 1100 Cleveland Ave. Through Wellstar’s investment, the Southside Medical Center clinic in East Point will expand its size, capacity and hours.

“This important partnership will create a much-needed medical home that will meet the primary and preventive care needs of the South Fulton County community,” said David M. Williams, MD, President and CEO of Southside Medical Center. “Wellstar and Southside share a vision to promote a culture of health and well-being. Building upon the initial expansion in East Point, our plan is to promote change in health status, lifestyles and health outcomes in the patients we serve through a new model of care throughout Metro Atlanta.”

The Southside Medical Center clinic is adjacent to Wellstar’s East Point Health Center (EPHC), which offers urgent care, care coordination and behavioral health services. Through this partnership, care coordinators at EPHC will support urgent care patients in developing a relationship with primary care clinicians at Southside Medical Center to support their long-term health and well-being.

“At Wellstar, we know from our experience, and we have heard from our patients and consumers that our communities have a critical need for preventive primary care health services, especially those focused on chronic illnesses,” said Candice L. Saunders, President and CEO of Wellstar Health System. “We are proud to partner with Southside Medical Center to grow access to the kind of care that matches the needs of the community and promotes the long-term health and well-being of the people we serve. This partnership represents Wellstar’s broader vision for the future of healthcare, which is focused on transformative care models that support overall community health and wellness through personalized preventive care.”

In April 2022, Wellstar transitioned the Atlanta Medical Center South hospital campus to an urgent care clinic to better match the care needs of the community. The partnership with Southside Medical Center represents the next step on this journey to create a sustainable care solution that will best serve the South Fulton County community long-term.

By expanding and enhancing the care offered through Southside Medical Center, patients will have access to family medicine, general dentistry, behavioral health services and substance abuse disorders management. Patients will also have access to Southside’s Behavioral Lifestyle Enrichment Center, which provides mental health and addiction treatment through their comprehensive Lifestyle Enrichment Treatment program to address addiction, depression, anxiety and other disorders.

Southside Medical Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that has provided care to East Point and Atlanta communities for over 55 years. As an FQHC, Southside Medical Center provides primary care access to all patients of the communities it serves, especially underserved communities. Southside Medical Center has strong ties to the community, and expanding their clinic is the right next step toward a sustainable care solution for a population that needs access to primary care, preventive and mental health services. As an FQHC, Southside Medical Center intends to provide greater access to primary and preventive health care services in addition to addressing the chronic care needs of the community through the patient-centered medical home model, which is designed to address both the clinical and social determinants of health issues which impact the healthcare and well-being of our community.

An important member of the East Point and Atlanta communities, Southside Medical Center has been nationally recognized by the National Association of Community Health Centers for having one of the best primary care delivery systems for the medically underserved.

“I look forward to the incredible impact this clinic will have on the lives of the patients and families we serve,” Dr. Williams said. “The expansion in East Point is just the beginning of an impactful partnership with Wellstar that I’m confident will meaningfully improve the health of our friends and neighbors throughout our region.”

As these groups move forward with this exciting partnership, Wellstar and Southside Medical Center will continue to work in collaboration with East Point Mayor Deana Ingraham, and we look forward to sharing more about this exciting next step.

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Wellstar Health System Expands Partnership with Virtual Reality Company Moth+Flame

This month Wellstar Health System announced it is extending its partnership with Moth+Flame to further utilize its virtual reality (VR) training technology throughout the enterprise.

Moth+Flame is an award-winning VR communication technology developer and premier enterprise-grade immersive learning provider offering innovative and adaptive learning programs for mastering technical and cognitive skills. Their platform includes content focused on emotional intelligence. When learners put on their headsets, they inhabit and interact with immersive simulated environments. They decide in the moment how to respond and see for themselves the impact their words and decisions have on others — and reflect on how to improve. Trainees receive an empathy rating score at the end of their session.

Last May, Catalyst by Wellstar led Wellstar’s first-ever VR-based leadership development training in collaboration with Moth+Flame. This was Moth+Flame’s first healthcare partnership, and the use of this technology continues to expand within Wellstar’s enterprise.

Following the training, 97% of participants recommended the virtual learning experience to others. They also reported that the training reduced their anxiety around difficult conversations by 57%. As a result of the successful pilot, Wellstar decided to offer VR emotional intelligence training regularly.

“We believe strongly that immersive learning is the future of learning and builds more confidence through practice,” said Kevin Cornish, CEO and founder at Moth+Flame. “Using virtual reality puts you inside of a difficult conversation and gives you a chance to learn in a safe simulated environment.”

The VR emotional intelligence training encourages Wellstar’s employees to build composure and gain practical experience in a highly realistic scenario by navigating difficult conversations and testing resiliency in an emotionally charged environment. This experience helps Wellstar’s workforce develop strategies to build situational awareness and prioritize composure, critical thinking and conscious emotional responses when engaging in triggering conversations.

By gaining conversational expertise and knowledge, Wellstar’s team will know how to respond in real scenarios with the confidence to interact appropriately and strategically.

“The realism within Moth+Flame's VR experiences, from using real-life actors, dramatically increases the emotional connection to the content and helps learners retain the information they learn. We are grateful for Moth+Flame's partnership in helping introduce VR to our leaders,” said Steven LeClercq, executive director of learning and onboarding at Wellstar Health System.

This use of innovation keeps Wellstar on the leading edge of training and team development, and the organization will continue to explore use cases for this technology within a clinical setting.

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Exterior photo of Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center. Wellstar and Joint Commission logos.

Newsroom

Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center Receives Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification

Wellstar Health System announced today that The Joint Commission recognized Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, the most demanding stroke certification recognizing hospitals that have specific abilities to receive and treat the most complex stroke cases. With two of the eight Comprehensive Stroke Centers in Georgia, Wellstar Health System now offers stroke patients greater access to the highest level of stroke and aneurysm care. Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center is also Joint Commission certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center.

“For years, we have provided world-class stroke care for each and every patient when they need it most. This designation represents how hard we have worked to provide the very best quality care for patients in North Fulton County and across Georgia. We’re proud that our work and subsequent positive patient outcomes are being recognized,” said Dr. Michael Mendoza, medical director of the Stroke Program at Wellstar North Fulton.

Wellstar North Fulton’s certification allows more Georgians to have access to the most advance diagnostics and treatments for cerebrovascular disease such as stroke. This is important because Georgia is located in the Stroke Belt, which is comprised of 11 states in the Southeast where the associated mortality rate for stroke patients is 10 percent above the national average.

At Wellstar North Fulton and Wellstar Kennestone, patients have access to advanced diagnostics and therapies to care for even the most complicated strokes faster and more effectively. These include:

  • Neuro Intensive Care Units –  A multidisciplinary team of physicians and nurses who specialize in neurocritical care.
  • Minimally-invasive treatment – Wellstar is one of only four programs in the state that offer neuroendovascular treatment, such as minimally-invasive clot retrieval, patients can be provided with a much less invasive treatment technique.
  • Cutting-edge imaging – Neurointerventional biplane imaging shows detailed, 3D views of blood vessels in the brain. This allows neurosurgeons to flip neuroendovascular cases to an open neurosurgical case when needed.
  • Pioneering technology – Wellstar North Fulton was among the first hospitals in the country to use the groundbreaking Artemis Neuro Evacuation device to treat brain bleeds, a condition that was nearly impossible to treat in the past.
  • Around-the-clock care – Artificial intelligence such as VizAi allows quicker identification of patients who are candidates for thrombectomy and organizes care in a connected system by quicker response to identify and provide care as quickly as possible.

“Our team of neurosurgeons, neurocritical care physicians, neuroradiologists, advanced practice practitioners and nurses work together to perform world-class thrombectomies, aneurysm treatments, carotid surgeries and cerebral bypass procedures so that patients can regain their best quality of life. Additionally, our dedicated hybrid neurovascular suite is equipped with innovative bi-plane technology. This allows neurosurgeons to view highly detailed images of brain vessels, so we as a team can customize treatments in real time,” said Dr. Arthur Grigorian, neurosurgeon, Wellstar North Fulton.

“When you have a stroke, every second counts. Getting fast, expert stroke care can mean the difference between life, death, or lasting brain damage. We are proud to receive this prestigious certification at Wellstar North Fulton, informing the surrounding community that they don’t have to go far to receive the best treatment possible. We will continue to work hard to provide an interdisciplinary, innovative, and compassionate approach to safe and quality comprehensive stroke care to all the communities we serve,” said Jon-Paul Croom, president, Wellstar North Fulton and senior vice president, Wellstar Health System.

Wellstar is a leading provider of stroke and aneurysm services in Georgia and performs one of the highest numbers of thrombectomy and aneurysm treatments in the country. The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit organization that accredits more than 22,000 healthcare organizations and programs.

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Photo of Bernice A. King. Text reads "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’" -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Newsroom

Wellstar Honors the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On January 12, Wellstar honored the life, legacy and many contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a live-streamed tribute. The program included performances from The Wellstar Singers, interfaith prayers and a keynote address featuring a conversation between Dr. Bernice A. King, youngest daughter of Martin and Coretta Scott King, and Monica Kaufman Pearson, beloved former Atlanta news anchor. 

The program was themed around a 1957 quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Life's most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’" 

Throughout the program, Dr. Bernice A. King shared important life lessons instilled in her as a child, including the value of forgiveness and nonviolence. Dr. King provided insight about the state of the world, growing polarization and the need to take time to listen to those who we perceive as our enemies. 

Watch the program. 

As CEO of The King Center, Dr. Bernice A. King’s mission is to spread her father’s philosophy and methodology of nonviolence. Through programs like Nonviolence365®, Beloved Community Leadership Academy and Students with the King, she is working to make perspective-altering resources available to people of all ages. 

This program was pre-recorded in November at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. The conversation was held in front of a live audience including Wellstar leaders, members of the Minority Physician Business Resource Group and our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team.  

Wellstar is honored to celebrate the life and legacy of American Civil Rights Movement leader and activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and recognizes Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a paid holiday. Team members are encouraged to take the day “on” by volunteering in the community.

Wellstar is proud to be a corporate sponsor partnering with The King Center on a variety of events leading up to the holiday on Jan. 16.

Keep reading
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