Georgia briefs

Albany Civil Rights Institute awarded grant

ALBANY — The Albany Civil Rights Institute has been awarded a $5,000 Vibrant Communities Grant from Georgia Council for the Arts.

Monies from the grant will be used to promote and sponsor the Lift Every Voice event in partnership with Albany Museum of Art in February, according to ACRI Executive Director Frank Wilson.

Wilson said the Georgia Council for the Arts grant is the first of many grants the Civil rights Institute is seeking to enhance and increase its brand in the Albany community.

LifeBrite Hospital in Blakely under new ownership

BLAKELY — A purchase that closed on Wednesday transitioned Pioneer Community Hospital of Early into LifeBrite Community Hospital of Early.

The Georgia-based LifeBrite Hospital Group completed its asset purchase agreement, assuming operational control from Pioneer Health Services. Officials said LifeBrite is making “significant investments” in patient services, equipment and technology to assure quality patient care remains in Early County.

Hospital Administrator Ginger Cushing will continue in her role at LifeBrite. Hospital Authority of Early County Chairman Buck Grist, along with Cushing, praised the transition, adding that the deal had been in the works “for the better part of a year.”

LifeBrite provides family medicine, urgent care, acute care, emergency department, laboratory, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, pulmonary rehabilitation, radiology, respiratory therapy, nursing home, short-term rehabilitation and surgical services.

The hospital’s new website is www.lifebriteearly.com.

GBI expands its Decatur morgue facility

DECATUR — Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal was among the guests as the Georgia Bureau of Investigation hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the expansion of the GBI headquarters morgue facility in Decatur.

The 17,511-square-foot project for the Medical Examiner’s Office creates much-needed storage capacity, essentially doubling the cooler space for autopsy cases and increasing office space for the doctors and death investigation specialists. The Medical Examiner’s Office provides complete forensic pathology services to 153 of Georgia’s 159 counties in deaths which qualify as coroner cases under the Georgia Death Investigation Act. The current building had reached maximum capacity with the growth in population and demand for services.

The $6,680,000 project was funded by the Georgia legislature and approved by Deal.

The ceremony included comments from Deal, GBI Director Vernon Keenan, and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jonathan Eisenstat.