Jeff Terry, MD, and Karen Baston, co-chairs of the 27^th Annual Medical Center Open Golf Tournament, announced that today’s golf tournament raised a record-breaking $320,000 for the purchase of a new mobile simulation unit. The simulation unit will provide life-saving training to Northeast Georgia Health System staff and community partners across NGHS’ 18-county service area. 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly towards the purchase of the simulation unit and provide operational costs for the first five years.

 The mobile simulation unit will directly enhance the quality of patient care by training NGHS staff how to react in life-threatening situations. Staff members will be able to enhance their skills as new techniques are learned and continue to be developed and practiced.

“Being new to the area, I am amazed at the willingness of this community to give back through their participation in the Medical Center Open,” said Chris Bray, president and chief development officer of The Medical Center Foundation. “With the first mobile simulation unit in Georgia, NGHS will have the ability to provide training that will touch many lives in the northeast Georgia region and beyond.”

In the mobile simulation unit, learners are immersed in realistic experiences enabling staff to prepare for rare, emergent, life-threatening situations so that response times are decreased when facing real-life events. This hands-on training is especially critical to meet the training demands of trauma program providers, respiratory therapists and EMS professionals – and is also invaluable for nurses and caregivers on patient floors.

 “Using the simulation unit, we’re able to build a bank of experience that we can draw from in a time of real crisis without the risk of harming actual patients,” said Dr. Michael Appel, chief patient safety officer for Northeast Georgia Health System. “Simulation enables us to refine both our technical and teamwork skills, so we can raise the bar and deliver the highest quality health care possible.”

Since 1997, the Medical Center Open has raised more than $3.5 million to support community health improvement initiatives.  In addition to the fundraising efforts of the Open, it was a great day for golf at Chicopee Woods Golf Course.  This year’s top prize, the Woody Stewart Trophy, was awarded to Walt Booth, Curtis Caldwell, Cory Cummings and Jake Martin with the low gross score of the day.

The Medical Center Open was supported by premier sponsor Bank of America Merrill Lynch and McGarity’s Business Products/HON, who sponsored the 19th Hole Reception.  This year’s tournament featured a helicopter ball drop raffle, more than 200 sponsors, more than 200 players and 100 volunteers.