In a Hospital Town, a Mother’s Dying Wish and a Son’s Relentless Fight for Health
Clifford Thomas’s mother, Beverly, was a dedicated middle school teacher whose lifelong struggle with chronic health problems ultimately forced her into early retirement and disability. Without a steady income, she lost access to regular medical care and died during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her final request to her son was simple yet profound: keep the family healthy. Now, in Albany, Georgia, Thomas finds that honoring that promise is a relentless, often lonely, battle against a healthcare system that seems designed to fail his community.
The One-Hospital Town
Albany, a city of about 69,000 in southwest Georgia, is economically distressed and predominantly served by a single, dominant institution: Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. This monopoly, reinforced by Georgia’s stringent certificate-of-need laws that limit new facility competition, has given
