At a time of progressive growth in Macon’s history when hospitalization was still a relatively new concept nationwide, a group of concerned citizens championed the establishment of a community healthcare facility to treat area residents in need of quality medical care.

On March 27, 1895, The Macon Hospital, now known as The Medical Center of Central Georgia (MCCG), officially opened at 820 Pine Street, offering accommodations for four private and sixteen ward patients.

What began as a two-story, eight-room brick residence constructed in the mid-1840s soon grew to include operating rooms and wards located in outbuildings on the property behind the main structure.

Olin H. Weaver, M.D., a young Atlanta physician, was recruited by Macon’s townsfolk to organize the new hospital and become its first administrator. Dr. Weaver and his staff— a nurse, two maids, two orderlies, one cook, and a nurse superintendent—initially served a population of twenty-two thousand residents.

As Maconites became accustomed to the notion that their new community hospital was a place of healing and not a gateway leading to “lost hope and no return,” the facility began to thrive. Much of the hospital’s early success is attributed to Dr. Weaver’s leadership, as well as the astute assistance of the hospital’s first chairman of the Medical Board, Dr. William F. Holt, and his successor, Dr. Henry McHatton.

In the ensuing years, MCCG evolved into a 603-bed, full-service, acute care hospital that now serves an estimated population of 750,000 residents and is now the second largest hospital in the state of Georgia. Accredited by the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the medical facility has a primary service area of thirty counties in Central Georgia, including Bibb and the neighboring counties of Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach and Twiggs. The Medical Center typically treats patients from nearly 80 percent of Georgia’s 159 counties.

As a part of Central Georgia Health System, MCCG is a 501(c)(3) private, not for-profit corporation. The hospital is owned by the Macon-Bibb Hospital Authority and maintains an active affiliation with Secure Health Plans of Georgia, a network of central Georgia hospitals and physician providers.

Distinguished nationally for its excellence, MCCG is also one of the premier teaching hospitals in the United States and serves as the primary teaching hospital for the Mercer University School of Medicine. MCCG supports residency-training programs in family practice, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. The hospital has more than one hundred medical residents in training.

MCCG’s status as a leading teaching hospital offers a distinct advantage.  As a teaching hospital, we are able to attract the best and the brightest to our area.

A commitment to high quality seamless care differentiates MCCG from other healthcare facilities within the region and throughout the country.  Three of its programs —cardiac care, neurology, and orthopedics— have earned five-star national ratings. In 1994 MCCG was named one of the top one hundred hospitals in the nation. MCCG excels in many other service areas, which have not been recognized by others for national distinction:

Cardiac Care

The Medical Center is well known in its role as the first hospital to bring advanced surgical techniques to the region. In 1977, for example, Central Georgia’s first open-heart surgery was performed at MCCG’s Georgia Heart Center. The Georgia Heart Center is recognized as the area’s first cardiac center to offer the less invasive “beating heart” surgery in addition to an extensive array of non-invasive diagnostic and cardiovascular imaging services.

With the largest heart program in the state outside of Atlanta, the Georgia Heart Center is staffed by some of the most experienced and highly trained surgeons, nurses and support staff available. Averaging more than eleven hundred open-heart surgeries annually, the center is equipped with the latest technological advancements to provide a full range of cardiovascular services and is the sole provider of Electrophysiology procedures in Central Georgia.

The Georgia Heart Center received a five-star report card rating from HealthGrades.com, Inc. for its “superior quality of care.” This commendable rating placed MCCG in the top 10 percent of an estimated five thousand hospitals nationwide for its cardiac-care program.

Emergency Care

From north to south and east to west, The Medical Center of Central Georgia is the largest tertiary care center between Atlanta, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida, and Augusta, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama.

Designated by the Georgia Department of Human Resources as the only Level One Trauma Center in Central Georgia —and one of only four in the state—The Emergency Center at MCCG treats an estimated fifty-five thousand patients annually.

The Medical Center is, in fact, the only healthcare facility in Macon that has a Surgery Trauma Team on standby twenty-four hours a day.

MCCG’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is also ranked among the state’s best. The department has twenty ambulances and two critical care neonatal/pediatric intensive care units that respond to emergencies within a 750-square mile coverage area in Bibb, Jones, and Twiggs counties.

In addition to providing technologically advanced medical care, EMS also hosts public education children’s programs and provides emergency coverage at public events.

Surgical Care

Recognized throughout the region for its exceptional surgical services, a new Surgery Center opened in October 1991 adjacent to MCCG’s Emergency Center. The new center performs the only long-term, open-heart surgery in Central Georgia.

MCCG performs more than thirty-six thousand surgical procedures annually. The Surgery Center features twenty state-ofthe- art operating suites, a comprehensive Endodiagnostic Center, a variety of specialty units for post-anesthesia care, outpatient care, and short-term care. A pediatric outpatient surgery program, “Just-For Kids” greatly increases the convenience and efficiency of the Surgery Center.

One hundred thirty-five surgeons are credentialed to operate at the center. The center is fully staffed and able to perform both elective and emergency surgical procedures twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Oncology Care

In order to meet the increasing need for 6 cancer research and treatment, The Medical Center established the Cancer Life Center.

The Cancer Life Center at MCCG is a comprehensive center for oncology research, education, and treatment with thirty-two inpatient beds supporting it. The center uses a multidisciplinary, patient-focused approach in the treatment and management of cancer.

In addition to a community outreach program, The Cancer Life Center focuses primarily on early detection and prevention of the disease. The Cancer Life Center is an active participant in cancer research and is affiliated with the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine’s Department of Medical Oncology. The Center also works with the National Cancer Institute in providing approved oncology clinical trials with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group and with The Georgia Cancer Coalition.

The Cancer Life Center maintains a Tumor Registry certified by the American College of Surgeons.

Child/Family Care

In a community hospital, family health and wellness is of paramount importance. This is certainly true at MCCG. This commitment is the foundation of many of the hospital’s programs and services.

The Family Birth Center welcomes newborns, parents, family members, and friends to a warm, comfortable environment that features twenty-one private labordelivery- recovery-postpartum (LDRP) suites with home-like amenities, including private baths with whirlpool-style tubs. Additionally, The Family Birth Center provides nineteen antepartum/postpartum beds, two wellbaby nurseries, and a five-bed intermediate care nursery. Through this family-centered approach, MCCG takes great pride in providing attentive care to each mother and her newborn.

With the addition of the new Children’s Hospital, The Medical Center of Central Georgia now offers one of the most comprehensive pediatric programs in the state. As Central Georgia’s only facility dedicated to children, The Children’s Hospital provides exceptional medical care and specialized services for children from birth through adolescence. Featuring a pediatric intensive care unit, a neonatal intensive care unit, and a children’s oncology program, the newly remodeled, freestanding Children’s Hospital opened on March 29, 2003, in what was formerly Middle Georgia Hospital. The new Children’s Hospital at MCCG is colorfully decorated, comfortably furnished, 7 and staffed by board-certified pediatricians and compassionate support personnel. Always sensitive to the needs of patients and their families, The Children’s Hospital provides play areas for children and adolescents, as well as comfortable, in-room accommodations for parents.

Children from birth to adolescence also receive expert, attentive care at The Children’s Health Center, a medical clinic located across the street from MCCG’s main campus. Offering a comprehensive array of quality, child-focused services, the clinic is professionally staffed by pediatricians and a highly trained support staff and visited on a regular basis by specialists representing a variety of disciplines.

As an extension of its service to children, MCCG established Crescent House, a safe place for victims of child abuse. Crescent House is supplied with state-of-the-art equipment that enables professionals to conduct effective, consistent, nonthreatening interviews and examinations of children.

Orthopedic/Joint Care

JointWorks, Central Georgia’s only joint replacement program, was established as a regional resource for thousands of Georgians experiencing hip and knee pain. In addition to conducting free, weekly educational seminars that focus on pain-alleviating treatments and current therapies, JointWorks has a focused unit within the hospital with its own specially trained staff for patients requiring hip or knee surgery.

Community Education

Believing that learning is fundamental to good health and wellness, The Medical Center offers numerous health educational opportunities for residents of Central Georgia.

In 1992 MCCG initiated Schoolhouse Health, an outreach program designed to provide both educational and healthcare services to schools in Bibb and Peach Counties. Currently there are sixteen Schoolhouse Nurses providing services through the Community Services Division of MCCG.

Central Georgia Breast Care Center, located on the hospital’s main campus, provides health education to increase awareness of breast cancer, a disease that affects one in every eight women. The center provides a centralized location for healthy screenings, diagnosis and treatment and is staffed by professionals skilled in the most up-to-date modalities for treatment of breast cancer.

Area residents fifty-five years of age and older are invited to participate in Golden Opportunities, a senior membership program sponsored by The Medical Center and housed at The Wellness Center, located at 3797 Northside Drive in Macon. Golden Opportunities is perfect for the older adult who wants to remain “active, involved, educated, and healthy.” Participants can take advantage of exercise, skin care, and nutrition classes; day trips to antique malls, festivals and historic venues; and discounts from area merchants, including dry cleaners, pharmacists, theatres. and restaurants.

Golden Opportunities’ members can also volunteer for “Seniors Helping Seniors,” a free service which provides older adults with transportation to healthcare appointments; grocery and pharmacy shopping; checkbook maintenance; reading to the visually impaired; and insurance counseling.

The Health Resource Center at the Peyton Anderson Health Education Center is a community-wide resource for current medical information that is open to children, young adults, adult patients, and healthcare professionals. The Center is stocked with books, journals, anatomical models, and Web access and Internet resources. The center sponsors lectures by medical professionals and well-known authors to support health 8 education services within the community.

To complement a vast array of medical services offered on campus, MCCG also provides health services throughout the community. Off-site services include: three urgent care centers which are open seven days a week; a neighborhood healthcare center which offers healthcare on a reduced fee sliding scale; a cardiac wellness and rehabilitation center; and home care and hospice services. A state of- the-art fertility clinic for men and women experiencing reproductive problems was recently opened.

The Wellness Center, located on Northside Drive, is open seven days a week and is staffed by professionals who customize programs tailored to each member’s individual needs. In addition to offering classes and programs that address specific health conditions, the center is equipped with an indoor track; an indoor pool; basketball, volleyball and racquetball courts; weight training and cardiovascular equipment; and saunas for men and women. Personal training, aerobics and fitness classes, nutrition and weight-loss classes, and arthritis aquatics with supervised childcare are also available.

With nearly four thousand employees, MCCG is Bibb County’s second largest employer. These employees support approximately five hundred board certified or board eligible physicians.

Being the area’s only community hospital gives The Medical Center of Central Georgia a unique perspective.  As one of the area’s largest employers, we see the commitment and work ethic so deeply ingrained in our people. The privilege of serving a broad cross-section of the population gives us insight into—and an appreciation for—our great diversity.  

It is evident that progress, coupled with unrivaled quality, has—and continues to be—an ever-present focus at The Medical Center of Central Georgia. Yet, despite the attention given to technological advancements and other achievements, the hospital has never forsaken its sense of community.

The steadfast commitment to help community residents obtain optimal health has always been a guiding influence at The Medical Center, as reflected in the hospital’s mission:

To enhance the health status of those we serve in partnership with medical and community organizations by providing wellness services, health education, and training and access to high-quality health care. 

During the past one hundred years, we have experienced a genuine sense of community, born of a common vision to provide the best possible healthcare to all of our citizens.  But best of all is the opportunity to be part of an organization and a community that understands that the best is yet to come. Despite many challenges, we are on the brink of the most exciting period of healthcare in history. We believe the same is true for our community, as well. Our success “has grown out of the generosity of community leaders, volunteers, and donors committed to the health of all people.  

The Medical Center of Central Georgia is conveniently located at 777 Hemlock Street between Interstate 75 and Interstate 16 in Macon, Georgia. For more information, call 478-633-1000.

Click here for the historical timeline of the Medical Center of Central Georgia!