Annual Day of Service

AUGUSTA, GA (PR) – People in the CSRA will have a chance to give back to the community during Georgia Regents University’s Day of Service on Sept. 12. Community members are invited to join GRU employees, students and their families to help organizations in our area through volunteer service.

“GRU is a huge part of Augusta and the surrounding communities; this is our home, and we must take pride in it by caring for our city and for each other,” GRU President Brooks Keel said. “Day of Service shines light on one of GRU’s most important institutional values – compassion. We encourage our faculty, staff and students to be socially responsible by reaching out and lending a helping hand through various community service projects, and we are asking community members to join us this year as well.”

Volunteer opportunities – some of which welcome children – include playing with and walking pets, doing lawn work, painting walls and interacting with veterans. Time of service varies according to activity and venue needs.

All volunteers will get a free Day of Service T-shirt and wristband, which they can pick up on Sept. 9 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the GRU Wellness Center at 1459 Laney Walker Blvd., Augusta, or in the Jaguar Student Activities Center breezeway on GRU’s Summerville Campus at 2500 Walton Way, Augusta.

Volunteers will also get a free pass with their Day of Service wristband to a special celebration, which will include a jazz concert with Wycliffe Gordon & NuFunk Revolution, Travis Shaw and the Mike Frost Band.

There will also be a barbecue while it lasts. The celebration will kick off at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 12, following Day of Service Activities, at the D. Douglas Barnard Amphitheatre on GRU’s Summerville campus.

To sign up to volunteer for Day of Service, click here. Each volunteer must complete a separate registration, including children.

The deadline for registration is Sept. 10. For more information, please email dayofservice@gru.edu.

Children’s Hospital of Georgia Ranks No. 1 in Nation

Children’s Hospital of Georgia is the highest performing children’s hospital in the nation in quality and safety. When pediatric patient care at CHOG is compared to that provided at 122 peer hospitals across the country – Augusta’s only children’s hospital ranks at the top.

“We take care of some really sick children here at the Children’s Hospital of Georgia. These aren’t just kids with aches and pains and temporary illnesses; although those are a significant part of what we do,” said CHOG Administrator Jim Mumford. “We’re talking about kids who need heart surgery, brain surgery, and cancer treatments, as well as ECMO; and kids with chronic diseases, like asthma, diabetes, and epilepsy. These UHC quality and safety indicators and our national ranking is a testament to the outstanding care that our physicians, nurses, and staff provide to these children and families across the southeast on a daily basis.”

According to the latest Quality and Safety Management Report from the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) – an alliance of the nation’s leading nonprofit academic medical centers, CHOG ranks first in pediatric care for all of 2014 in an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) integrated measure on pediatric quality.

“Being recognized for the highest quality and safety outcomes on a national level is certainly a significant honor,” said Dr. Charles Howell, Co-Medical Director and Surgeon-In-Chief of CHOG. “It speaks volumes about the compassion and expertise that we provide to each and every patient at Children’s Hospital of Georgia.”

The 154-bed not-for-profit CHOG is the second-largest children’s hospital in the state, providing the highest level of pediatric critical care and neonatal intensive care, as well as a wide range of general and complex health care for children. Donations help fund the many resources needed to enhance and maintain the quality of care children receive – from the smallest bandage to the most precise surgical instruments.

“It takes a remarkable team effort centered on children and their families to be the best of the best in children’s care,” said Dr. Charles Linder, Chairman of Pediatrics for GRU’s Medical College of Georgia and Co-Medical Director at CHOG. “We just celebrated a year of record-breaking donations in 2014 that culminated last weekend with our telethon. Now we have another reason to celebrate, and our supporters can take pride in these accomplishments, too.”