SPRINGFIELD — Effingham Health System remains focused on the future without turning a blind eye to its past. 

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the hospital hosted a reunion of past Effingham Health System Board members in the hospital’s Cancer Care Center on Thursday.

“We are here today to celebrate and acknowledge you and your vision for Effingham Health System,” said Fran Baker-Witt, Effingham Health System CEO. “Your commitment over the past fifty years has shaped the present and the future of Effingham Health System. Local access to health care for fifty years — what a remarkable journey!

“You were the trailblazers and you are the health system’s legacy. You are the past, the present and you are still the future because it is because of you that we are here today.”

At the conclusion of her remarks, Baker-Witt introduced a video that highlighted the hospital’s outstanding rankings and achievements.

Current members of the Effingham Health System Board of Directors, Chairman Patricia Ann Yarbrough, Secretary LaMeisha Hunter-Kelly and Mose Mock, briefly discussed the hospital’s local impact before surrendering the floor to past board members.

“What an occasion! What an awesome opportunity to be a part of something so special and so wonderful as this celebration,” Dr. Franklin Goldwire said.

Goldwire relayed a story about the hospital and his father. He recently discovered a picture of the 1969 ground-breaking ceremony for the hospital and his dad was in it.

“I have cherished that ever since I found it,” Goldwire said. “When I became a board member some years ago, I served with the spirit of my dad in my heart. I knew this was something that he felt very strong about and that he saw a need for — and that was fifty years ago.

“He never had an opportunity to be served by the hospital but that picture told me that he believed in health care for this county and that’s what he wanted.”

Goldwire expressed pride in his stint on the Effingham Health System Board of Directors. He is a current member of the Effingham Health System Foundation Board of Directors, which helps the hospital acquire state-of-the-art equipment and highly qualified doctors.

“That’s why I’m so proud to be a part of the foundation,” he said. “That foundation can buy those resources to make sure that once we recruit the most professional and highly qualified professionals to do the job, we can then arm them with the best set of tools so that they can do their very best in serving.”

Former board member Gussie Nease applauded the hospital for its efforts to land specialists.

“What a blessing it is that we do not have to go to Savannah to see a specialist, that they come here,” she said. “What a blessing it is that we had people pushing for it and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

Nease’s youngest daughter was born in the hospital in its second year.

“So I have been supportive of this hospital longer than most people know,” she said. “I have been supportive of it every time it changes, every time it grows and every time a new building goes up. I’ve always been supportive of that and I’m appreciative to have this kind of health care, especially the cancer center.”

Former board member Derrell Banks said a sense of teamwork has been key to the hospital’s success.

“When we made a decision, we sat down at a table, in a room or whereever we might be, and talked it over,” he said. “There was no book throwing or throwing chairs at one another. We talked it over and came to a decision that best served this hospital.

“Just look at where this hospital has gone in the last five or ten years! ... We’ve come a long way, baby, but look out now!”