SGMC, in collaboration with hospitalist partner EmCare, announces that Internal Medicine Physicians Roberto Garcia, MD and Felix Valdez, MD have been appointed to lead SGMC’s Hospitalist Program. The two physicians will work on opposite 7-on/7-off shifts to ensure that hospitalist management services are available at all times.  

Hospitalists are physicians whose primary professional focus is the general medical care of hospitalized patients. Drs. Garcia and Valdez will oversee the team of approximately 34 EmCare hospitalists and advanced providers at SGMC.     
According to EmCare Executive Vice President Dr. Jerry Edwards, the lead physicians will facilitate the achievement of EmCare/SGMC’s goals and objectives for timely, efficient care.   

A practicing hospitalist for many years, Dr. Garcia affiliated with SGMC in 2009.  He has served in various leadership capacities within the SGMC organization including Chairman of the Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, and Chairman of the Computerized Provider Order Entry and Standardized Order Sets Committees of the Medical Staff.  Dr. Garcia founded the Hope Clinic within the Lowndes County Partnership for Health to provide free diabetes management resources for the working uninsured in our area.

Dr. Felix Valdez affiliated with the SGMC Medical Staff in 2002. He serves as a member of the Critical Care Committee and the Committee on Trauma of the SGMC Medical Staff.  In addition to his work as a hospitalist at SGMC, he also serves as the medical director of the Migrant Farmworkers Clinic in Lake Park, GA. Dr. Valdez also volunteers his time to serve as pastor of the Hispanic Ministry at Open Bible Baptist Church in Valdosta, GA. He also works with the Hispanic Prison Ministry at Madison Correctional Institute in Madison, FL.