Augusta, GA--
To better meet the needs of patients, families and visitors, MCGHealth now offers guest wireless internet access in its hospitals and outpatient clinics. Those with a portable computer or other handheld device with a wireless card and a compatible browser can use the system.
"Guests can check e-mail, do office work, homework and a host of other tasks without having to leave the hospital or waiting room, and it costs them nothing," said Kevin Smiley, Director of Information Systems for MCGHealth. "If we can make guests feel more empowered and connected to their world while they are here, then we’ve accomplished our goal."
This new trend in restaurants, bookstores and other WI-FI hot spots is now in high demand in hospitals. The Patient Advisory Council, a group working to improve Patient Family Centered Care, requested the amenity.
"We have received positive feedback already," Smiley said. "Just the other day I received a note of appreciation in the mail from the mother of a pediatric patient. She said that being able to complete her college exams while taking care of her daughter, who was in the Children’s Medical Center for a few weeks, helped take a load off of her shoulders."
MCG Health, Inc. (d/b/a MCGHealth) is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCGHealth Medical Center, MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center, the Georgia Radiation Therapy Center, and related outpatient facilities and services throughout the state. For more information, please visit mcghealth.org.