Effingham Health System announces that effective Feb. 15, Georgia Emergency Physician Specialists, a group of leading board-certified emergency medicine specialists, will fully staff the EHS emergency department.

GEPS is an organization of emergency medicine specialists that have been staffing emergency departments and urgent care centers in Savannah since 2003.

Dr. Jay D. Goldstein will lead a team of 18 physicians with extensive experience and specialized training in dealing with emergency situations from heart attacks and strokes to abdominal pain, broken bones and various degrees of trauma. Beginning Saturday, these physicians will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at the hospital.

Dr. Goldstein is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and the current medical director for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah. He also held the role of emergency medicine medical editor for WebMD, a popular on-line medical news and information source.

“We are always focused on meeting the needs of our patients,” said Norma Jean Morgan, CEO of Effingham Health System. “We feel that the expertise, experience, and the quality of care these physicians bring to the emergency room will greatly benefit our patients and our community.

“The exceptional quality of clinical care combined with cost-effectiveness, short waiting times, a comfortable and clean environment, exceptional customer service, and the convenience of being close to home is the EHS difference patients, family members, friends and the community can expect,” Morgan added.

According to Goldstein, one of their main focus areas is to ensure that the community understands the importance of emergency medicine and how critical it is to get to the closest emergency department, because every minute counts during a medical emergency.

“Our decision to align with Effingham Health System to provide leadership and physician staffing in the Effingham Hospital Emergency Department was driven by several factors,” Goldstein said. “The hospital’s administration is committed to providing the community with life-saving emergency medicine.

"The nursing team is experienced and focused on quality and safety first," Goldstein added. "They have advanced diagnostic equipment including powerful new MRI imaging equipment, and, there is an experienced team of general surgeons available every day. We see this as an opportunity to make a positive difference in the community."

“We achieved our level IV trauma status in 2012, and by adding the level of care GEPS emergency physicians bring to our hospital, we are once again demonstrating our deep commitment to protecting and improving health care in Effingham County,” said Morgan.