South Georgia Medical Center honored its Engineering and Facilities department as Health System Heroes at its monthly Board of Directors meeting. Rick Oelkers, Director of Engineering, Jed Allen, Construction Manager, and the entire team were honored for their essential work in construction and facilities maintenance over the last year.
The department has facilitated a multitude of large projects in recent months, including the completion of four major renovations. This includes a build-out for the Graduate Medical Education quarters at main campus, a new SGMC Internal Medicine practice for SGMC’s residency program, a redesign of the Surgery Suite in the Professional Building, and the relocation of Urgent Care to a newly renovated facility on the Smith Northview Campus.
Alongside the major construction projects, the department maintains 1.5 million square feet of space, to include four hospitals and 52 additional buildings that house other medical services such as primary care and specialty offices. With a staff of 28 members, this is no small feat.
Oelkers has been an integral part of SGMC’s facility maintenance for 20 years, and Allen has overseen construction at SGMC for eight years.
“This team works long hours, often responding to calls in the middle of the night, but their hard work does not go unnoticed,” shared Johnny Ball, Senior Vice President of Regional Hospital Operations. “We thank them for their essential role in our health system and their commitment to keeping all of us safe.”
The honorees received a standing ovation from those in attendance.
For more information, visit sgmc.org