Ameris Bank made a big delivery Tuesday at Liberty Regional Medical Center.
James Rogers, the Ameris Bank market president, presented LRMC Chief Executive Officer Derek Rozier and the Liberty County Hospital Authority with a $500,000 check from Ameris Bank through the Georgia HEART Hospital Program.
Rozier said the hospital appreciates the partnership with Ameris Bank and its relationship with Rogers, the former chairman of the hospital authority.
Under the Georgia HEART (Helping Enhance Access to Rural Treatment) program, individuals and corporations contributing to qualified rural hospitals can get state income tax credits.
“We’re very happy to partner with the hospital,” Rogers told authority members at their meeting Tuesday.
The Rural Hospital Tax Credit was enacted in 2017. Since 2018, Ameris Bank, through the HEART Program, has donated $2.35 million to the LRMC. That money has gone to multiple projects, Rozier pointed out.
Liberty Regional now has a wound care center, adjacent to its main campus, and has the Moms Heart Matters program, an effort to decrease the maternal mortality rate. Previous donations also helped the hospital get its oncology unit going.
“As long as there is a HEART program, we’ll be here to support it,” Rogers said.
Across the state, Ameris Bank disbursed $1.694 million through the Georgia HEART Hospital Program to 17 rural hospitals this year. This marks the eighth consecutive year that Ameris has participated in the state income tax credit program, contributing a total of $14.6 million.
The check for LRMC was the largest, with only a check for $500,000 to Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie equaling the total. Ameris Bank donated to hospitals in 17 counties. Over the last eight years, Ameris Bank has contributed more than $14 million to rural hospitals in Georgia.
“Many hospitals depend on donations to augment their funding for facilities, training and daily operations,” said Ameris Bank CEO Palmer Proctor. “This program directly aligns with our purpose as a company to bring financial peace of mind to communities, one person at a time. We applaud the state for this innovative program that enables hospitals to apply the donations in areas that ultimately strengthen the care given to patients.”