Pineland Telephone Donates Phone System to The Candler County Hospital

Pineland Telephone Cooperative donated a phone system to the Candler County Hospital after their current system crashed on June 18, 2009 due to a lightning strike. Danny Moxley, Administrator and CEO of Candler County Hospital, said “Words cannot adequately express the appreciation of the Hospital Authority and all of the employees of the hospital for this contribution from Pineland Telephone.”

Pineland Telephone was called to the hospital to assess the situation. The mutual agreement was to abandon the old phone system due to the inability of the technology to meet the hospital’s telecommunication needs. Eddy Jones, Plant Operations Manager for Pineland Telephone, said “the hospital purchased the phone system years ago and Pineland Telephone maintained the system over the years. Pineland approached the management of the hospital on several occasions to discuss what would happen if the system crashed as it did on June 18th.

Pineland wanted to either upgrade the system or sell them a new one. Due to tight budget constraints, the hospital could not take advantage of either option, but both parties knew that the hospital had to have a reliable phone system.” The Candler County hospital did not have the funds or resources to purchase a new phone system when the lightning strike took place.

Richard Price, General Manager of Pineland Telephone said, “Because of the age of the old phone system it was impossible to repair. The directors, managers and employees feel that Candler County Hospital is very important to the economic health and the physical well being of the citizens of Metter and Candler County. The Board of Directors voted unanimously to donate the new phone system and all the labor associated with the installation to show our support of the hospital and the citizens it serves. Pineland is proud to be able to support this vital community project.” 

Pineland Telephone and its employees worked long hours to complete the installation of the new phone system at the hospital. “In less than 24 hours, they completed most of a project that would ordinarily take several days or weeks to plan and implement. We are very blessed to have a business partner like Pineland Telephone in this community and again I want to thank Pineland Telephone from the bottom of my heart” said Moxley.For a copy of the Press Release click here