A Healthy Service Center
Like most of the country, Macon's economic focus has shifted from agriculture to manufacturing to service and retail sectors. The health care industry dominates Macon's service sector, with six hospitals serving patients from across the state's mid-section. The central location makes doctor visits, consultations, and hospital stays convenient for everyone. Banking, insurance, and other "back-office" industries evolved with the health care firms and employ thousands of people here. Retail growth has also exploded throughout Macon.
Wounded Civil War soldiers found their way to Macon in droves, creating an overwhelming demand for physicians, nurses, and medical supplies. Women's relief groups sewed bandages and tended to the injured in makeshift hospitals, while the apothecaries supplied prescriptions concocted from dogwood, slippery elm bark, gentian root, red-pepper pods, herbs, and other ingredients. The influx of patients during the Civil War first positioned Macon as a regional medical center.
The health services industry has grown over the years in the area to exceed the national average of hospital beds and physicians, according to a study for Robins Air Force Base. The Georgia Department of Labor reported the health services industry growth-rate in the 1990s for 11 counties around Macon is double that of the area's other industries. Almost 100 dentists and more than 500 physicians in nearly every facet of medicine, including highly specialized disciplines, treat thousands of patients here. State-of-the-art equipment and facilities allow this corps of professionals to effectively perform simple to complicated procedures. Typically, only transplant operations are referred to other locales. One former patient commented, "If a person must get sick, Macon's one of the best places to do it!"
Four general medical and two specialized hospitals form the foundation of the health care industry in Macon. This core group and other neighboring hospitals helped develop a broad support network of clinics, pharmacies, medical equipment suppliers, home health care services, and related businesses. An integrated relationship between the hospitals and the state's educational institutions produces a well-trained workforce. The Medical Center of Central Georgia serves as the primary teaching hospital for Mercer University's School of Medicine students; courses and programs offered by Wesleyan College, Macon College, Georgia College, Macon Technical Institute, and Fort Valley State College also reinforce the industry's strength in Central Georgia.
Historians note that the South generally lagged in health care
providers for many years after the Civil War, partially due to the
rural economy. However, recent decades have propelled southern
medical institutions into the nation's sphere of health care leaders.
Macon's climb to become one of the country's premier regional
medical centers reveals the city's dedication to enhancing the
well-being of its populace and its commitment to progress.
Early Physicians Establish Macon's Medical Community
Researchers play an important role in the medical community at the
Mercer University School of Medicine. Photography by Ken Krakow.
Named after a physician, Dr William Wyatt Bibb, the county attracted doctors to the city of Macon even in its infancy. Dr. Ambrose Baber, Macon's first practicing physician in the l820s, also heavily influenced the city's formation until his shocking death. Historical references relate that Dr. Baber prescribed a dose of cyanide of potassium according to the instructions in Ellis' Formulary. The pharmacist who filled the order advised the patient not to take the prescription because the dosage seemed far too strong. Heeding the warning, the patient questioned Dr. Baber. The doctor confidently swallowed the prescription to prove its accuracy and he died almost immediately. Apparently, the prescription book contained a typographical error (belatedly corrected in the next edition).
Maconites mourned the passing of their civic-minded doctor, but welcomed others who followed him. Two of these early physicians were women. Testifying to Macon's prevailing progressiveness, the first female doctor offered services here in the 1880s. The second physician was a Wesleyan College graduate, Dr Mary Eliza McKay, who returned to Macon after studying at the Women's Medical College of Baltimore.
The growing city dedicated its first permanent hospital in 1895 on Pine Street after six years of fund-raising efforts. Named the Macon Hospital Association, it housed 20 beds monitored by a single doctor and nurse team. For over 100 years, the area bordered by Pine and Hemlock Streets has hosted health care providers, although the facilities and staff sizes have markedly multiplied.
Today, The Medical Center of Central Georgia employs about
3,300 people in medical, administrative, and support functions,
and ranks as one of the state's largest employers. Its direct and
indirect payrolls total about $251 million and the hospital shoulders
much of the county's indigent care costs. Also large in size
and scope, the HCA Coliseum Medical Centers employs more
than 800 people. Together, The Medical Center of Central Georgia,
HCA Coliseum Medical Centers, HCA Coliseum Psychiatric
Hospital, Macon Northside Hospital, Middle Georgia Hospital, and
Charter Behavioral Health Systems considerably influence Macon's
economic health as well as the area's physical and emotional
well-being.
The Medical Center of Central Georgia Grows with Macon
The Medical Center of Central Georgia is a full-service, acute-care
facility that addresses a wide range of health concerns through more than 20
specialized centers, services, and programs. Photography by Bill Lisenby.
Reigning over a large portion of downtown Macon, The Medical Center of Central Georgia provides a 518-bed regional referral center for most of Georgia's 159 counties. This full-service, acute-care facility addresses a wide range of health concerns through more than 20 specialized centers, services, and programs. It also serves as a teaching hospital for several universities. One Macon-Bibb County Hospital Authonty board member noted, "If there's a need for a certain type of doctor or program and we don't have one, we work to find the best to bring to Macon." Confirming its leadership position, H.C.I.A., Inc. and Mercer Management Consulting, Inc., ranked the Medical Center among America's 100 top performing hospitals.
The various Medical Center services developed over a century, most often reflecting the advancements of medical capabilities and philosophies. The hospital began treating cancer patients in the 1930s, and this grew into the well-known Cancer Life Center. The hospital's Georgia Heart Center, initiated in the 1960s, gained national recognition for its full cardiovascular services. In the next decade, the Medical Center brought the first birthing room to Central Georgia. Today, the home-like suites of the Family Birth Center allow expectant mothers to share the delivery experience with the new father, and there's even a rocking chair if grandma wants to lullaby the new baby to sleep.
Other Medical Center programs include Focal Pointe Women,
a resource center exclusively dedicated to enhancing women's
physical and emotional health, and Hospice of Central Georgia,
a program designed to bring dignity to the lives of those with terminal
illnesses. Additionally, the Medical Center operates Central
Georgia's only children's hospital, the region's only sleep disorder
facility, four urgent care centers, three fitness/education centers,
psychiatric and addiction facilities, imaging center, diabetes treatment
center, rehabilitative hospital, and occupational health
center. In 1991, the Medical Center completed its largest project,
the 185,000-square-foot Surgery Center for inpatient and outpatient services.
HCA Coliseum Medical Centers Enhances Downtown Health Services
As Macon's population grew, so did the need for more health services. HCA Coliseum Medical Centers located here in the 1970s just behind the Macon Coliseum. This formidable complex of buildings, including the 258-bed hospital, sprawls across the hillside above the Ocmulgee River. The Coliseum Women's Center shares a large portion of the space for its mammography, ultrasound, and densitometry services. The Women's Center houses the cozy, private rooms of Coliseum Matemity Center, plus the newborn nursery and a neonatal ICU. In 1993 alone, some 1,400 babies came into the world via the Coliseum Maternity Center.
HCA also operates the 92-bed Coliseum Psychiatric Hospital
with a 24-hour telephone helpline and a specialized outpatient
center for families. Through a "systems" approach, HCA Coliseum
Medical Centers oversees two urgent care facilities and centers for
outpatient diagnostics, rehabilitation, breast health, weight control,
diabetes management, and same-day surgery. Other services
include physician referral, health education programs, and support groups.
Middle Georgia Hospital and Macon Northside Hospital Add Options
Downtown Macon features a third hospital within the city limits. First opened in 1911, Middle Georgia Hospital offers general, acute, and surgical care. Its private rooms for outpatient surgery enhance the comfort of patients who travel from the entire Central Georgia area for treatment. The hospital also provides exceptional cardiology services, x-ray and laboratory diagnostics, heart catheterization, and an impotence program. Additionally, it operates the Middle Georgia Urgent Care Center on Forsyth Street where a physician is on duty around the clock. The hospital's Ask-A-Nurse physician referral and health information service effectively answers many health-related questions. This service is a cooperative program with Macon Northside Hospital, the city's newest hospital.
Opened in 1984 on a 40-acre wooded campus, Macon
Northside Hospital shares the beautifully landscaped site with an
adjacent medical office building and two separate office complexes.
The soothing environment outside seems to drift through the
private hospital's 103 rooms and enhances recovery from general,
acute, or surgical care. The hospital's full-service emergency room
features an innovative Chest Pain Center to quickly determine the
cause of chest discomfort and treat it appropriately. Macon
Northside Hospital also operates an advanced intensive care unit,
inpatient/outpatient surgical suites, state-of-the-art endoscopy lab,
non-invasive echocardiography, advanced pulmonary lab with
registered respiratory therapists and technicians, physical therapy
department, imaging services, nuclear medicine, and a variety of
support programs.
Health Care for the Times
Macon's major general hospitals evolved over time in response to the community's changes and the dynamics of the medical profession. And they continue to grow to expand their facilities and services. Similarly, Charter Medical Corporation, founded here in 1969 by William A. Fickling, Jr, shifted from its initial focus to become one of the leading companies in the psychiatric and addictive care field. The company headquartered in Macon's tallest building for about 25 years; today some 200 people still work in the corporation's satellite office here. Charter Medical currently operates over 100 hospitals in the United States and foreign countries.
One of those hospitals is Macon's Charter Behavioral Health Systems of Central Georgia in the Charter Lake Hospital Building. Set on 18 lush acres and a small lake, Charter Behavioral Health Systems confidentially helps children, adolescents, and adults deal with emotional, behavioral, substance abuse, or addictive disease problems. Its 24-hour Crisis Line receives about 600 calls a year, and every caller gets help: answers, an offer for free in-person assessment, or a referral. The stacks of thank-you notes collectively tell of the programs' successes. About 150 employees run the two outpatient centers, partial hospitalization program, and 118 bed inpatient facilities. The professionals also direct several specialized services, such as employee assistance, senior citizen, or Christian-based programs.
Another health care resource for the community can be found at the Macon-Bibb County Health Department's new headquarters on Emery Highway, and the Georgia Department of Human Resources' Family and Children Services on Oglethorpe Street. Both provide immunization and well-baby check-ups. They also offer the developmental hearing, dental, and vision screenings required for all new students in Bibb County Public Schools.
For those whose school days were many decades ago or for those with incapacitating conditions, the many high-quality home health care agencies here deliver a positive alternative to hospitalization. This vast force of traveling nurses and aides administers the care and treatment that allow sickly or handicapped individuls to live in the comfort of their own homes. And if home care is no longer an option, area nursing homes tend to the convalescing and infirm.
The city's rise as a regional health care provider continues
to stimulate the area's economy. When calculating the dollars
a medical facility brings to an area, economists use a higher
multiplier for these institutions than for most other types of
businesses. The theory seems to apply to Macon. Indirect job
growth generated by the health care industry, especially its hospitals
and the city's centralized location, helped to dramatically
increase "back-office" industries. This includes insurance and
financial industries and other companies providing non-selling
services such as legal, accounting, record-keeping, and
communications.
Back-Office Comes to the Front
The Charter Medical Building and the modern headquarters of
First Liberty Bank overlook the surrounding downtown area.
Photography by Ken Krakow.
Shadows of Macon's contemporary back-office industry peek from the city's historical photographs and documents. These early employees worked behind the scenes, counting cotton receipts, issuing railroad train notes, or running messages between offices. As the country's economy shifted in time towards a service base, Macon's did too. Numerous financial and insurance firms established their regional, state, or national headquarters in the city, giving center-stage importance to Macon's increasing back-office workforce.
Macon hosts ten main banks with over 50 branch offices today. First Liberty Financial Corporation, the largest publicly held corporation based here, serves as the holding company for First Liberty Bank. Established in 1926, First Liberty now provides banking and financial services at more than 25 offices throughout Georgia and employs about 375 people in Macon. Its modern headquarters overlooks the surrounding downtown businesses.
Another homegrown firm, the Georga Farm Bureau Federation, created its headquarters here in 1941. It moved several times within Bibb county to continually accommodate the expanding breadth of services and memberships. Enlarged from 1,313 members in 1941 to 234,700 in 1993, the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation now employs about 380 people. Its contemporary five-storied building on Bass Road houses an amalgam of insurance, investment, and real estate subsidiary companies, and a wide range of services for its statewide membership.
Macon's central location in the state and its healthy industries captured the attention of large national and international firms, and they, too, developed headquarters here. CIGNA Insurance Company traces its development in Macon to 1948 when the Insurance Company of North America (INA) opened an office downtown. In just six years, INA began constructing a beautiful brick facility on Coleman Hill with a commanding view of the entire city. Mercer University purchased the site in 1977 for its Walter F. George Law School and maintained much of the original architectural embellishments, particularly the stately cupola. Camera buffs find the building irresistible and it's one of the most frequently photographed buildings in Macon -- probably second only to its neighbor, the famous Hay House -- and likely one of the few law schools in the country featured on post cards, calendars, and brochures!
INA later merged with Connecticut General Insurance Company to form CIGNA Insurance Company, the namesake for one of Macon's largest office buildings. This site also won architectural awards. About 450 CIGNA employees work there, handling business in 31 states across the country.
Other insurance companies found Macon conducive to their operations. The Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) now employs more than 1,300 people on its eight-acre campus in the Ocmulgee East Industrial Park. Since 1974, the offices have served as the headquarters for GEICO Region III, the company's largest territory. GEICO also credits the Macon facility, serving 15 states, as its most productive.
Similarly, Aetna Life & Casualty Company and GE Capital Credit Services headquartered offices in Macon, too. Together, they employ an additional 600-plus back-office workforce.
Alco Capital Resource came to Macon in the 1980s for many of the same reasons the other back-office businesses did. However, this national headquarters for office equipment leasing found an additional incentive to settle here besides the central location, growing economy, or high-caliber labor force: Macon's Acme Business Products. Alco Capital Resource cooperatively took over the leasing division of Acme in 1983 and moved from a building behind the business products dealer to its 37,000-square-foot office complex in 1994. Acme Business Products, which started on a shoestring in the early 1970s, now employs more than 650 people covering Georgia and territories across the southeast. Its headquarters for the 35 branch offices remain in Macon.
The service sector, including health care and back-office industries,
accounts for more than one-third of the firms in Macon's
MSA. The success of the service and manufacturing forces continues
to help raise the area's overall buying power. Now ranked as
the third greatest MSA buying power in the state by the University
of Georgia, Macon's MSA supports some 1,700 retail trade businesses-second
only to the number of service frms, and evidenced
by the assortment of shopping bags passing around town.
More in Store in Macon
As long as any Maconite can recall, shoppers have flocked to the city from all around the region to find their dresses, suits, housewares, furnishings, and sundry items. Of course, precisely what they purchased over time has changed from wagon wheels to all-season tires; hand-crank phonographs to multimedia computers; parasols to beach blankets. Today's retailers in Macon provide the full array of big-city merchandise, but if an item isn't in stock, they order it with the genuine warmth of small-town service.
The downtown area, once the hub of general merchandisers, now attracts shoppers to its increasing variety of specialty stores. Many of the family-owned businesses, such as Arleene's, Bowen Brothers Clothiers, Karla's Shoe Boutique (owned by two women of the Otis Redding family), and Bert Maxwell Furniture Company, represent long-term success stories. The rebirth of the downtown area in the 1990s promises to further enhance the downtown shopping experience.
At the same time, commercial developments continue to expand in the suburban areas. Westgate Mall, opened as the state's first enclosed shopping complex in 1961, prepared for major remodeling and expansion in 1994. The new collection of outstanding anchor stores in a contemporary power-strip design prompted a proposal to change the name to Westgate Center.
Macon Mall, the area's largest retail shopping center, also announced extensive expansion plans featuring additional bigname anchors. Built in 1975, it encloses over 30 acres under its roof on an 85-acre site. A stroll through the parking lot on any day of the week reveals license plates from a 30-county radius and often from other states. Studies showed Macon Mall ranked as the top destination in Central Georgia; Westgate Center ranked as the second most heavily shopped retail complex.
Mercer University's Walter E George Law School. While Macon's healthy manufacturing,
service, and retail industries provide residents with plenty of places to make money, save money,
and spend money, they also emphasize the importance of education, and improve the quality of life.
Photography by Ken Krakow.
As other retailers opened in the vicinity of Westgate Center and Macon Mall, they formed a prime retail corridor roughly between Eisenhower Parkway and Mercer University Boulevard and from I-475 to 1-75. Some 96,000 cars pass daily through the intersection of Pio Nono Avenue and Eisenhower Parkway near the entrance to Westgate Center. With the completion of the Fall Line Freeway, the corridor can more accessibly draw traffic from east Macon and all of Central Georgia. "If we could relocate the Macon Mall," a manager commented, "we would put it right back where it is."
In every direction around the city, grocery stores, restaurants, hardware stores, automobile dealerships, and hundreds of other retailers welcome patrons. Some can be conveniently found in the many strip shopping centers or in their own buildings. It's also an easy drive to nearby outlet stores and the new Centerville Galleria Mall. While Macon's healthy manufacturing, service, and retail industries provide residents with plenty of places to make money, save money, and spend money, they also emphasize the importance of education, and improve the quality of life.
