Northeast Georgia Health System leaders pose for a groundbreaking photo at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton site in 2012. The 119 acres has now been developed into a hospital that has served the Braselton, South Hall and Gwinnett communities for 10 years.
Anyone who drives the stretch of Friendship Road between Interstate 985 and Highway 211 can see the area is one of the fastest growing in the state as they cruise past pristine active retirement communities, new shopping centers, thriving restaurants and a rapidly expanding Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Braselton campus. The hospital celebrated its 10-year anniversary on April 1 – surrounded by a thriving economic center that was just a dream more than two decades ago, when Northeast Georgia Health System’s (NGHS) volunteer board members and leadership team saw the potential for the future as they gazed across rolling pastures that spanned four counties.
“Our plan for Braselton was to do exactly what our mission urges us to do – improve the health of our community in all we do,” said Anthony Williamson, who led the design and construction, and then served as president of NGMC Braselton from its opening day in 2015 through 2024. “We knew there was a tremendous need to make healthcare services more accessible in the Braselton area. It has been our honor to care for our growing community for the past 10 years, and the support we have received from the community has allowed us to become a new healthcare destination and serve as the driving force for surrounding infrastructure and growth.”
The vision quickly became reality when the hospital opened its doors, as the number of people who came there for care far surpassed initial projections. In the decade that’s followed, NGMC Braselton has seen more than 10,000 deliveries, almost 500,000 emergency department visits, more than 60,000 surgeries and cared for more than 81,000 patients who needed to stay in the hospital. Staff have performed nearly 5 million lab tests and delivered over 1 million meals to patients’ rooms – while serving another 3.5 million meals to visitors in the café.
“We joke that we’ve had a crane at the hospital every day since it opened, and that’s not far from the truth,” said Kevin Matson, who succeeded Williamson and now serves as NGHS vice president of Regional Hospitals in the system’s southern market with oversight of NGMC Braselton and NGMC Barrow. “We’re in the midst of an expansion project now that’s adding two more floors to the main tower, which will be complete this summer, and will triple the size of the emergency room in 2026.”
NGMC Braselton opened with 100 beds in 2015, and the count is already up to 188 beds with more on the way. The hospital campus also includes three medical office buildings which are home to the Braselton Cancer Center, Braselton Surgery Center, Imaging Center of NGMC, several Northeast Georgia Physicians Group (NGPG) practices spanning multiple specialties, other physician practices and an Urgent Care center.
During the past decade, NGHS has recruited more than 150 physicians to NGPG and Georgia Heart Institute practices in the Braselton area. NGHS has also invested more than $1 billion in hospital expansions and medical office buildings in communities near the hospital including Hoschton, Dacula, Hamilton Mill, Auburn, Jefferson and Buford. And that number doesn’t include the cost of care when patients don’t have the ability to pay or the expense of community outreach such as free screenings and health education seminars.
“It’s been a joy to see how this area has grown and continues to grow, along with NGMC Braselton,” said James Jackson, MD, a now-retired primary care physician who practiced in Braselton for decades and helped lay the foundation for NGHS services in the community. “Medical services play an important role when it comes to growth, and I’m proud to have been a part of seeding this area’s economic boom.”
When the hospital was nearing completion ten years ago, NGHS estimated that NGMC Braselton would initially create more than 500 new jobs. But today, there are nearly 2,000 staff members working in the Braselton market.
The community has been equally supportive of NGHS. Over the last 10 years, the NGHS Foundation has supported NGMC Braselton with $10 million in facility enhancements, expansions, complementary services, equipment, workforce development and support programs.
“We continue to be blessed by generous donors who see the need for quality healthcare in their community hospital,” said Chris Bray, chief philanthropy officer for NGHS and president of the NGHS Foundation. “Of course, dollars are not the only donations we receive. Since the opening of NGMC Braselton, more than 800 volunteers have donated over 138,000 hours to the hospital – and we’re deeply grateful for that.”
To learn more about NGMC Braselton, visit nghs.com/braselton.