Georgia Care Innovators has its roots in a simple act of listening.
More than four decades ago, a group of people in our community recognized something was missing. Individuals approaching the end of life and the families who loved them needed a different kind of care—care centered on comfort, dignity and the person rather than simply the disease.
Their response was to create Hospice Savannah.
Today, the services we provide extend well beyond hospice. But as Georgia Care Innovators President and CEO Dr. Kathleen Benton explains in the video below, that evolution isn’t a departure from our history. It is one of the most important ways we honor it.
“If you actually want to stay true to your history, know your history and understand its importance.”
— Dr. Kathleen Benton
The needs facing our community have changed over the years. End-of-life care remains essential, but other gaps have become increasingly clear. People living with serious illness need support before hospice is appropriate. Older adults need better options for remaining healthy and independent. Family caregivers need education and support. And families need help navigating a healthcare system that can be difficult and fragmented.
Each time we identify one of those gaps, we return to essentially the same question our founders asked: What does our community need that it isn’t getting today?
That question has helped lead to palliative care and other programs and services designed around the changing needs of individuals and families. It also explains why innovation has become such an important part of the Georgia Care Innovators identity.
For Kathleen, innovation doesn’t mean creating something new simply for the sake of being new. Sometimes it means looking at what is working exceptionally well elsewhere, learning from it and finding ways to bring those ideas to Georgia.
As she says in the video, we don’t always need to “recreate the wheel.” We can learn from successful models across the country and around the world, bring the best ideas home and make sure they are delivered with quality and according to best practices.
The ambition behind that work is significant. Kathleen believes Georgia has tremendous opportunity to improve the way people experience healthcare—and that organizations like ours have a responsibility to help lead that progress.
That means continuing to listen. Continuing to identify what is missing. And continuing to build, adapt and advocate for better solutions.
The programs may change. The needs may evolve. Our reach may grow.
But the idea at the heart of the organization remains remarkably similar to the one that inspired its founders more than 45 years ago:
When our community needs something better, we have a responsibility to help build it.
