Category Archives: Health Business

ROAD HOUSE RIB CAFÉ CLOSES

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The restaurant opened in early 2013 on Furys Ferry Road in place of a prototype Sonic Restaurant concept that didn’t catch on. Sales were not strong with the fast, casual barbecue concept that included a drive-thru and sit down tables. They featured the usual fare of BBQ, Ribs, Chicken, and more. Some hardcore BBQ restauranteurs told the Buzz that the only way to do BBQ right is to have a “pit” and slowcook the Pork for many days. Their understanding was Roadhouse cooked too much in the way of frozen food. After a month or so delay to retrofit the restaurant again—the owner Rick McMurtry has decided to revert the restaurant back to a Sonic. Sonic will reopen in this location in late August.

 

Get Fit: Allergy Relief and Exercise

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Article by Ed Reid

Springtime is upon us and summertime is just around the corner — time for outdoor workouts!  If you suffer from seasonal allergies, outside activities and the thought of your anguish may have you afraid to go for a stroll around the block.  Before you totally cancel your outdoors training sessions, try these moves to help lessen the affects of allergies.

Check The Weather Report – Check levels and avoid training during the peak times of high pollen counts.

Cover Up – Wearing a hat (or other form of head cover) and glasses/shades can help prevent pollen from getting into your hair and eyes. 

Reduce Tag-along Tracking – Remove your shoes and excess clothes before you enter the car or house.  This will impede tracking outdoor allergens indoors.  It is also a good idea to wipe down your pet whenever returning from outside activity as well.   

Eat Well, Drink Well – The right foods can help build your immune system.  Foods that are high in anti- oxidants help your body defend outdoor allergens. Foods high in sugar can cause the body to produce more mucus, further aggravating breathing problems.  Drink at least half of your bodyweight in ounces of water daily to stay properly hydrated.  This will help prevent mucus build up and work to keep breathing passages clear.

This is the time of year that will allow you many opportunities to enjoy exercising and training outdoors.  Proper planning with help you enjoy this beautiful season.  Find activities that are right for your fitness level and always remember to have fun “Getting Fit!”

Ed Reid is a Certified Personal Trainer and leading fitness expert in the CSRA. He is Retired US Navy with over 15 years experience in the health and wellness industry. Ed owns Team Fit Personal Training located at 4460 Columbia Road, Suite 10. For more information call 706.877.0556.

Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cutting for Living Well Pharmacy

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The public is invited on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 11:30am, to a ribbon cutting ceremony sponsored by the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce for Living Well Pharmacy, located at 3736 Mike Padgett Highway (Highway 56 at Tobacco Road).  The first locally owned pharmacy opened in over 15 years in Richmond County, Living Well Pharmacy will serve south Richmond County, including the Goshen and the Cross Creek areas. Vic Johnson, a native of Columbia County and graduate of the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy, and National Board Certified Nuclear Pharmacist through The Ohio State University, is the Pharmacist in Charge and Chief Operating Officer. This location was ideal for Living Well Pharmacy due to a mutual decision made between Mr. Johnson and the physicians serving this area at the Southern Family Medical Center, in hopes of offering a full complement of medical care to the local families here. The pharmacy also hopes in the coming year to develop services for all of the surrounding industries, offering their employees the most convenient and comprehensive medication therapy management available. The Living Well Pharmacy staff looks forward to serving this great area and welcomes the community to stop in during their store hours, which are Monday thru Friday, 9:00am – 7:00pm and Saturday, 9:00am – 1:00pm. Feel free to contact us at 706-262-4455.

MCG Foundation gets $66 million gift from Dr. J. Harold Harrison

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Courtesy: Augusta Chronicle

After giving $10 million last year to help fund a building that bears his name, the late Dr. J. Harold Harrison and his family topped that by giving $66 million, what is believed to be the largest gift ever to a public university in Georgia, to fund scholarships and faculty at his beloved Medical College of Georgia.

The Medical College of Georgia Foundation board voted unanimously Saturday to create the J. Harold Harrison, M.D. Fellows Fund to facilitate the gift from his estate and his private foundation. Harrison, a longtime member of the foundation who led it in 1974 and 1979, died June 2.

“We shall miss Harold and have already missed him,” said Dr. Cecil F. Whitaker Jr. of Columbus. “We shall miss his intelligence, his wit, his laughter that used to fill this room up. But we won’t miss his generosity.”

The endowment can only be used to fund scholarships for students at MCG, which is part of Georgia Regents Uni­ver­sity, and for endowed chairs for faculty at MCG in Augusta.

That is what Harrison really wanted. In 2004, when he was donating $2 million to endow a chair in vascular surgery at MCG, he said he wanted to improve the school and its research for future students.

“They give an opportunity for folks like me from Kite, Ga., to get an education,” he said then. “Anything I can do to help that for the future gives a country boy a chance to go to school. If we can improve the school, we can give him a better chance at getting a quality education that will compete with anybody in the country.”

“And he never forgot that,” said foundation CEO James B. Osborne Sr. “He wanted any family in the state of Georgia to be able to send their children here to go to school and be a doctor. And he wouldn’t have had that opportunity if it had not been for the Medical College of Georgia.”

FOR MORE ON THIS STORY, visit  www.augustachronicle.com

Aiken Regional Medical Centers Earns EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Certification for Superior Energy Efficiency

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On April 12, 2013 Aiken Regional Medical Centers has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR certification, which signifies that the facility performs in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency and meets strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the EPA.

“Aiken Regional Medical Centers is pleased to accept EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification in recognition of our energy efficiency efforts,” said Scott Ansede, Chief Operating Officer. “Through this achievement, we have demonstrated our commitment to environmental stewardship while also lowering our energy costs.”

Earning ENERGY STAR certification highlights ARMC status within the top 25 percent of Healthcare Facilities in the nation with regard to energy performance. Aiken Regional Medical Centers improved its energy performance by managing energy strategically across the entire organization and by making cost-effective improvements to its facilities.

“We have learned how to make thoughtful choices about ways we can use power more efficient.  Aiken Regional Medical Centers has empowered me to make changes to conserve energy and make our patients stay more comfortable,” said Ray Hoyer, Director of Facilities Management.

“Improving the energy efficiency of our nation’s industrial facilities is critical to protecting our environment, “ said Jean Lupinacci, Chief of the ENERGY STAR Commercial & Industrial Branch. “From the plant floor to the board room, organizations are leading the way by making their facilities more efficient and earning EPA’s ENERGY STAR certification.”

ENERGY STAR was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the ENERGY STAR label can be found on more than 65 different kinds of products, 1.4 million new homes, and 20,000 commercial buildings and industrial plants that meet strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the EPA. Over the past twenty years, American families and businesses have saved more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions with help from ENERGY STAR.

WALTON REHAB IS OFFICIALLY SOLD TO ALABAMA COMPANY

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 1, 2013 –/PRNewswire/ – HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS) today announced it has completed its previously announced purchase of Walton Rehabilitation Hospital, a 58-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital formerly owned by Georgia Rehabilitation Institute, Inc., and doing business as Walton Rehabilitation Hospital in Augusta, Ga.  

“The purchase of Walton Rehabilitation Hospital by HealthSouth – our first in the State of Georgia – is another milestone in our strategy of expanding HealthSouth’s rehabilitative outreach to new markets,” said Linda Wilder, president of HealthSouth’s southeast region. “We are pleased to add Walton Rehabilitation Hospital to our nationwide network of rehabilitation hospitals and look forward to providing high-quality inpatient rehabilitative treatment and technology to the residents of the Central Savannah River Area.”

HealthSouth Walton Rehabilitation Hospital will offer high-quality inpatient rehabilitative care including specialized rehabilitation programs treating complex neurological and stroke patients, and will offer the most advanced rehabilitation technology available. HealthSouth Walton Rehabilitation Hospital will remain on the Walton campus, and there will be no interruption to patient care during the transition.

HealthSouth, with this acquisition, owns and operates 101 inpatient rehabilitation hospitals.

About HealthSouth HealthSouth is the nation’s largest owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in terms of patients treated and discharged, revenues, and number of hospitals. Operating in 28 states across the country and in Puerto Rico, HealthSouth serves patients through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation satellite clinics and home health agencies. HealthSouth’s hospitals provide a higher level of rehabilitative care to patients who are recovering from conditions such as stroke and other neurological disorders, orthopedic, cardiac and pulmonary conditions, brain and spinal cord injuries, and amputations. HealthSouth can be found on the Web at www.healthsouth.com.

IHOP FLIPS FOR CHILDREN’S MEDICAL CENTER

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Jonathon Azziz, 14, serves short stacks at the Washington Road IHOP on National Pancake Day 2012. Proceeds from this annual Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals fundraiser go to the Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center.

Augusta, Ga. – IHOP will serve free short stacks all day long on National Pancake Day, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013, in support of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. All local proceeds will go to the Georgia Health Sciences Children’s Medical Center, the area’s only children’s hospital.

More than 1,500 IHOP restaurants across the United States, including four in the Augusta-Aiken area, will invite diners to enjoy a complimentary short stack of IHOP’s signature buttermilk pancakes and to consider donating what they would have paid, or more, for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Local participating IHOPs are located at:

•  2525 Washington Road, Augusta

•  3125 Peach Orchard Road, Augusta

•  4361 Washington Road, Evans

• 180 Aiken Mall Drive, Aiken

IHOP’s Pancake Day brought in more than $3,200 for the Children’s Medical Center in 2012.

“Those funds were used by our respiratory therapy team to purchase specialized equipment for patients with asthma and other breathing issues,” said Catherine Stewart, CMN Development Coordinator. “The Children’s Medical Center is a not-for-profit hospital, so we are truly grateful for the financial support from our community we receive through special events like National Pancake Day.”

About GHS Children’s Medical Center

The 154-bed Children’s Medical Center is the second largest children’s hospital in the state, providing the highest level of pediatric critical care and neonatal intensive care as well as a wide range of general and complex health care for children.

About IHOP

For 52 years, the IHOP family restaurant chain has served famous pancakes and a wide variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner items for all ages. IHOP strives to offer its guests an affordable, everyday dining experience with warm and friendly service. The first IHOP opened in Toluca Lake, Calif., in 1958. There are currently 1,438 IHOPs across the greater United States. IHOP restaurants are franchised and operated by Glendale, Calif.-based International House of Pancakes, LLC, and its affiliates.

NEW FITNESS CLUB OPENS IN AIKEN OUTSIDE OF WOODSIDE PLANTATION

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Offers unique classes no other facility has in CSRA. Courtesy: The Village Health & Wellness Center

Join us for the Les Mills™ Fitness Party on Saturday, Jan. 12. We’re merging fitness, fun and party vibes to bring in the new year, minus the bubbly. Come dressed to sweat. On tap:

8:30 AM RPM™
9:30 AM CXWORX™
10:00 AM BodyCombat™
10:00 AM BarreAmped®
11:00 AM BodyPump™
11:00 AM Aqua Zumba®
Noon BodyFlow™

Activities are part of our Les Mills Launch Day™ and Open House. Bring friends, win door prizes and watch demos. No fees or membership required.

At 5 and 6 PM, we’re pumping up the volume with GRIT™ BootCamp. If you love CrossFit but can’t afford it, this could be your new addiction.

Admission: $12.50 for members; $15 for everyone else. Space is limited; call (803) 617-0876 to reserve your spot. But remember: GRIT™ is not for sissies.

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AIKEN REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTERS AND CARING FOR CAROLINA HONOR CANCER VICTIMS WITH TREE OF HOPE

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Aiken, SC- Aiken Regional Medical Centers and their Caring for Carolina partners, Maxwell Law Firm and WJBF News Channel 6, are sponsoring the annual Tree of Hope. The event is Thursday, December 6, 5:30pm at the Cancer Care Institute of Carolina located at 111 Miracle Drive in Aiken, South Carolina.

The Tree of Hope honors and remembers loved ones that have battled cancer. During the intimate event the holly tree in front of the Cancer Care Institute will be lit for the first time this year in honor of cancer patients, their families, and friends. The tree will stay lit throughout the month of December.

Any donations from the event go to the Savannah River Cancer Foundation. The foundation, established in 2003, aids cancer patients and their families throughout Aiken, Edgefield, Allendale, and Barnwell counties. To make a donation or learn more, please contact: Savannah River Cancer Foundation at (803) 649-LIFE (5433) or email at srcforg@yahoo.com.