
Business leaders, educators and workforce experts from across Northwest Georgia will gather later this month to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing employers and workers across the region.

Business leaders, educators and workforce experts from across Northwest Georgia will gather later this month to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing employers and workers across the region.

Families in Gordon County and across Northwest Georgia could soon have access to more advanced newborn care closer to home.
The Georgia Department of Community Health has issued AdventHealth Gordon a Certificate of Need to establish a four-bed Level II Neonatal Intensive Care Unit within the hospital’s existing Women’s Services Area. The approval is still subject to a standard 30-day appeal period.
AdventHealth Gordon is the only hospital in Gordon County and currently provides obstetric and newborn care. The proposed Level II NICU would allow more babies requiring additional medical support following birth to receive specialized care in Calhoun rather than having to be transferred farther from their families.
Hospital officials say the unit would also provide additional support for monitoring newborns, parent education, bonding, breastfeeding and discharge planning.
Justin Birmele, president and CEO of AdventHealth Gordon and AdventHealth Murray, said the approval represents an important step toward expanding care for Northwest Georgia families and allowing mothers and babies to remain closer together when additional care is needed.
Georgia classifies Level II neonatal services as specialty or neonatal intermediate care, providing a higher level of newborn care than basic Level I services.
The state approval does not mean the new unit will open immediately. The Certificate of Need remains subject to the 30-day appeal period before the project can move forward.

The Chattooga County Health Department is now offering flu and updated COVID-19 vaccines on a walk-in basis at its office at 60 Farrar Drive in Summerville.

The Georgia Department of Public Health says two additional measles cases have been confirmed in connection with an outbreak at a metro Atlanta daycare, bringing the outbreak total to 10 cases.

AdventHealth Redmond has expanded its lung cancer diagnostic services with the launch of a new robotic bronchoscopy system designed to help doctors reach and biopsy small or difficult-to-access lung nodules.

AdventHealth has expanded its health care services in Northwest Georgia with the opening of a new primary care practice in Rome.

The Tillotson Menlo Charitable Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2026 grant cycle, continuing a program that has provided more than $8.4 million for projects benefiting Menlo, Chattooga County and surrounding areas over the past two decades.

AdventHealth Medical Group has welcomed Dr. Zishan Hashmi, a board-certified interventional pain management physician, to AdventHealth Medical Group Pain Medicine at Rome.

Georgia Northwestern Technical College is celebrating another major achievement for its nursing program, with every graduate in its latest Associate of Science in Nursing class passing the national licensing examination on the first attempt.

AdventHealth Redmond has named Alli Beth Surrett as its second-quarter 2026 DAISY Award recipient, recognizing her for extraordinary nursing care, compassion and patient advocacy.