Memorial Health leadership, the Memorial Health Board of Directors and the Chatham County Hospital Authority are celebrating the successful integration of Memorial Health into HCA Healthcare’s South Atlantic Division.

Last year, the hospital’s leadership, Board of Directors, and the CCHA conducted an extensive search for a partner to ensure continued delivery of care for Chatham County and the surrounding region. “HCA Healthcare is that partner we were seeking - a healthcare leader that understands and is committed to high-quality, community-based hospitals,” said Frank Rossiter Jr., M.D., chairman of the CCHA. A commitment to sustainment of key services was a critical priority for the CCHA and hospital board.  “Across the country, HCA empowers local caregivers and gives back to the communities they operate in,” said J. Curtis Lewis, III, chairman of the Memorial Health Board. “That is our commitment to our neighbors across Georgia and we are excited to have found a partner with the same core values.”

The South Atlantic Division of HCA Healthcare is based in Charleston, SC, and operates 13 hospitals in South Carolina, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida. “For more than 60 years, this Savannah team has been delivering high quality care and extraordinary service to this community,” said South Atlantic Division President Hugh Tappan. “We are delighted to welcome them into the HCA family and are committed to ensuring that they have the tools, resources and collaboration needed to ensure that care continues for the next 60 years and beyond.”

Going forward, the health system will continue to operate under the name Memorial Health, the hospital as Memorial Health University Medical Center and its employed physicians as Memorial Health University Physicians. All will take on a new icon – the Caring Star – which represents the critical link between Team Members, physicians, patients and community. “Honoring the history, traditions and extraordinary compassion seemed the most fitting tribute to the legacy of caring that this team has represented for the past 62 years,” said Memorial Health CEO Shayne George. “We are deeply grateful to our 4,700 Memorial Health Team Members, the Board and the CCHA, for their perseverance and commitment to the health of this community.”