HEALTH
Gov. Herman Talmadge speaks during the dedication ceremony for Newton County Hospital after its construction in 1954. Archives | The Covington News
County hospital has provided health care for nearly 70 years By TAYLOR BECK
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tbeck@covnews.com
n Sunday, Oct. 17, 1954, a crowd of approximately 4,000, including then Gov. Herman Talmadge, gathered in Covington to celebrate the opening of Newton County Hospital. “The dream of the people of this county is at last a reality,” reporter Lucile Skinner wrote in the Thursday, Oct. 21, 1954, edition of The Covington News. But much more than a dream, it was a more than two-year effort by then-newly established Newton County Hospital Authority. Created in 1952, the authority’s members included L.J. Moore, Leon Cohen, B.B. Snow, Mrs. Aubrey Sherwood and S.A. Ginn. During his address, Talmadge said it was his aim to bring hospital care within the reach of every one of the 3.5 million residents living in Georgia at the time. He also said Newton County’s facility was not quite large, but there was “none more modern” at that time. The Covington News reported the hospital was readily 44 BICENTENNIAL EDITION
Members of the Hospital Authority and various county officials, including L.J. Moore, S.A. Ginn, M.W. Barnett, R.C. Williams, Aubra Sherwood, Tom M. Bates, Richard Aeck, Jack L. Elliott, James Samford, B.B. Snow and Leon Cohen, break ground on the Newton County Hospital in August 1953. Archives | The Covington News
equipped with a “X-Ray room, emergency room,” “central supply and sterilization rooms, large operating room with all the newest equipment” and a recovery room. The hospital began with a 36-bed capacity. When Newton County Hospital opened its doors, there were just 22 full- and part-time employees with seven members on the medical staff. In June 1983, the hospital
authority changed the name to Newton General Hospital. The change was part of an overall renovation and construction program. Further into the 1980s, the staff grew to roughly 300 employees with more than 75 physicians, who covered nearly every medical specialty, on staff. The capacity also rose to 90 beds. The hospital’s name was later changed a third time to Newton Medical Center. THE COVINGTON NEWS
