Vivian Macks recently joined the Cypress Court at Decatur team as Activities Director and has brought her expertise as an art therapist into the role of providing activities to the residents that meet their emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental needs. Having an art therapist on staff also provides a new dimension of services to residents who are cognitively impaired and sometimes struggle with trying to effectively communicate to others.

Vivian has a Master of Art in Art Therapy from Cal State University, Los Angeles, CA. She is a member of both the American Art Therapy Association and the Georgia Art Therapy Association. Before joining Cypress Court at Decatur she worked for several years Greensboro Hospice and also Georgia Regional Hospital at Atlanta.

Sam Ahern, CEO of Henry Medical Center, recently announced his early retirement after 28 years in various capacities; culminating over the last five years as its President. "I am very proud of Henry Medical Center, and I am grateful to have been a part of the growth and success of the hospital over these many years. With completion of the North Tower, the hospital is now well positioned to continue and expand its Mission of serving the healthcare needs of our rapidly growing community."

Ahern, who began his career at Georgia Baptist Hospital, acknowledged, "I was privileged to be one of the first employees hired when the hospital was initially built, to be integral to several major expansions and renovations and most recently, to lead the Medical Center through the current North Tower expansion project, which is substantially complete."

After honoring Ahern’s request, the Board of Directors named Board Chair, Dr. Joseph Blissit, as acting CEO. A Henry County native, Dr. Blissit, a Board Certified Family Practitioner, maintained a private practice in McDonough for 43 years. Dr. Blissit also served as Chair and Medical Director of the Henry County Health Department, whose building bears his name.

"Henry Medical Center has enjoyed tremendous support from the entire community since the day it opened." Dr Blissit said. "Sam Ahern has had a distinguished career in the development and growth of our hospital, and we wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement."

Dr. Robert B. Smith III and Dr. Harold Ramos, two longtime physicians who dedicated their lives and careers to the service of others through almost a century of combined experience, have retired from their posts as medical directors at Emory University Hospital and Emory Crawford Long Hospital.

"The debt of gratitude Emory Healthcare and generations of Georgia citizens owe Dr. Smith and Dr. Ramos for their service as healers, scholars, teachers and mentors can never be repaid," said Michael M.E. Johns, M.D., CEO of the Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University.

Robert B. Smith III, M.D., medical director of Emory University Hospital and associate chair of the Department of Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine, has led the medical staff at Emory Hospital for the past decade. His career at Emory began almost four decades ago, and he has been involved in many of the medical breakthroughs that have helped shape Emory into a national leader. He was involved in Georgia's first organ transplant, and has been a leader in vascular surgery throughout his career. He is also a distinguished teacher, and in 2004 he received special recognition from Emory's surgical residents for his years of surgical teaching.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Smith attended Emory College, and received his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine in 1957. Upon completion of a surgery internship at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps for two years. He then completed a general surgery residency at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and joined the faculty of the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Surgery in 1966. Dr. Smith rose to the rank of Professor of Surgery in 1977 and currently serves as the John E. Skandalakis Professor of Surgery, emeritus.

His administrative appointments have included chief of the surgical service at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center; head of general and vascular surgery, acting chair of the Department of Surgery, and associate chair, Department of Surgery, all at Emory University School of Medicine; associate medical director and medical director at Emory University Hospital, and member of the Leadership Council of The Emory Clinic.

Harold S. Ramos, M.D., medical director of Emory Crawford Long Hospital and professor of medicine in the Emory University School of Medicine, has served the medical needs of the residents of Atlanta and the state of Georgia with honor and distinction for more than 40 years.

Dr. Ramos entered the Medical College of Georgia in 1950. He joined the U.S. Air Force Active Reserve during medical school, and after graduation pursued his internship and residency at Walter Reed Army Hospital. After one year of fellowship training at the Army Institute of Research, he was assigned to Wiesbaden, Germany, where he established the Air Force Artificial Kidney unit at Wiesbaden Hospital. In 1962, he was assigned to the U.S. Air Force Hospital in Biloxi, Miss., where he developed an intern and residency program.

In the fall of 1963, Dr. Ramos joined Emory University School of Medicine when Dr. J. Willis Hurst, then chairman of the Department of Medicine, was in the process of consolidating the post-graduate programs in medicine at Emory University Hospital, the VA Hospital, Emory Crawford Long Hospital and Grady Hospital.

Dr. Ramos developed a medical teaching program at Emory Crawford Long Hospital, where he also was instrumental in establishing a coronary care unit. Additionally, he served on the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Board, and succeeded renowned surgeon Dr. Wadley R. Glenn as medical director of Crawford Long Hospital.