Piedmont Athens Regional

Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital now has a testing site for COVID-19. The facility’s regional drive-through collection site is located on the Oconee health Campus.

That site is for patients who have moderate symptoms that do not require hospitalization and who meet the CDC guidelines. Patients must be prescreened by calling 1-866-460-1119 in order to receive an appointment. Not all callers will be approved.

Last week Governor Brian Kemp said some Georgia hospitals are facing shortages of medical supplies.

Heart disease is often thought of as a man’s disease, when in fact, almost as many women died of heart disease as men. According to Dr. Catherine Marti, a cardiologist and heart failure expert at Piedmont Athens Regional, it’s the leading cause of death for women in the U.S.

"One in three women will have heart disease, which means it's going to touch all of us or someone we care deeply about."

Piedmont Heart is now offering a new screening program to help improve early detection of the ailment and possible stop heart disease before it does too much damage.

Piedmont Athens Regional is partnering with Athens YWCA to offer a new Wellness Training program. The new program provides wellness and fitness counseling to cancer patients at the hospital’s Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support.

Oncology Nurse Navigator Sandy Pyle says the program are tailored to the patients’ needs.

“We started this current program of providing vouchers for some of our clients that allows them to go to the Y and have exposure to some of the different exercise classes and programs,” Pyle said.

Piedmont Athens Regional employees are giving back to the facility and the community. Employees recently donated $200,000 in the effort to help others. Tiffany Burrows is the business liaison at the facility. She says the donations are a part of the GIFT program.

“Out of all the Piedmont hospitals, Piedmont Athens is the largest employee contributing hospital,” according to Burrows. “About 52 percent of our employees contribute to this program, the Getting Involved for Tomorrow is what it’s called.”

Two facilities are benefiting from the donations.