Edward J. Fechtel, Jr., Administrator of St. Mary's Hospital, Athens, has been honored for his 15 years of service to the hospital.

A dinner in Fechtel's honor at the Athens County Club was hosted by hospital board members, department heads, and the Missionary Sisters. The principal speaker was Seldon Brown, Executive Director of the Georgia Hospital Association.

Sister M. Antoinette, MSC, vice-president and treasurer of St. Mary's Board of Directors, called Fechtel "one of the most outstanding individuals in the field of hospital administration, and one of this community's most dedicated citizens."

Also speaking on behalf of the Sisters, she said, "We are honoring an exceptional person tonight." In referring to Fechtel's service to St. Mary's, she recalled the words of the late Hubert Humphrey, "As you lead, as you help, as you understand, you build the kind of world in which you and yours can live in peace and freedom and dignity."

Other participants included Larry McLeod, legal counsel to the Board of Directors of St. Mary's Hospital, who was a speaker and master of ceremonies, and Father Michael Woods, pastor of St. Joseph's Church, who delivered the invocation.

During his 15 years with St. Mary's, Fechtel has maintained continued accreditation for the hospital from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.

Since he began work at St. Mary's in 1963, Fechtel has established or helped to implement a number of new programs and services. These include departments of nuclear medicine, recreational therapy, social service, and pastoral care, and an electroencephalograph (EEG) department.

Other innovations include the installation and upgrading of sophisticated X-ray equipment, including the Computerized Axial Tomographic ("CAT") Scanner, an inpatient dialysis unit, a cardiac diagnostic laboratory, and a newborn intensive care nursery.

Fechtel also instituted 24-hour coverage of St. Mary's emergency room through contracting with licensed physicians for service, the unit-dose system for patients' medications, an ambulance service, and a program for Red Cross volunteers in the emergency room.

He participated in the establishment of the licensed practical nursing program at St. Mary's and in the establishment of the Professional School of Nursing at Athens (SONAT), a satellite program of the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing at the University of Georgia.

Fechtel developed an administrative residency program for graduate students in hospital administration. Other work-study programs which he helped to establish include a program in clinical pharmacy at St. Mary's, externship and internship programs for persons studying to be social workers at the University of Georgia, and clinical practice at St. Mary's for emergency room technicians who are studying at Athens Vocational-Technical School.

The community health education program and the home health care program also are services developed since Fechtel became St. Mary's administrator. He obtained a grant to enable the home health care program to expand into the 10-county Northeast Georgia area, as well as a grant for the provision of secondary obstetrical care.

In 1977, the Tel-Med telephone tape library of health messages was instituted in cooperation with the University of Georgia Health Service. The Tel-Hospital tape program which assists patients in understanding the procedures they will undergo in the hospital, began in February, 1978.

The "Friend of St. Mary's" program, which facilitates the admissions process for the patient, also is a recently-developed service.

Fechtel is a fellow of the American College of Hospital Administrators and a member of the American Hospital Association, the East Central Georgia Hospital District, the Catholic Hospital Association, and the Georgia Hospital Association. He has served the latter organization as treasurer and president.

Fechtel also is secretary of the board of directors of St. Mary's Hospital, serves as one of two alternate delegates from Georgia to the House of Delegates of the American Hospital Association, is a member of the Georgia Hospital Association's (GHA) Council on Governmental Relations and Planning, is chairman of the GHA's task force on cooperative services, and is an at-large member of the board of directors of the Southeastern Hospital Conference.

In addition, he is assistant professor and lecturer for the University of Georgia's School of Pharmacy.

His past service includes the chairmanship of the Board of Georgia Hospital Shared Services. Fechtel has been a member of the board of directors of the Athens-Clarke County United Way and for the Athens Community Council on Aging.

In the past six years, he has had speaking engagements in 11 states, including serving as guest lecturer for the U.S. Public Health Service on the topic, "hospital medication distribution systems."

Fechtel was St. Mary's assistant administrator for three years before he was appointed administrator in 1966. He earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Notre Dame University and a master's degree in business and hospital administration from Emory University.

A native of Atlanta, Fechtel served his residency in hospital administration at Duval Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida, and was assistant Administrator at St. Francis Xavier Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina. He was in the United States Navy from 1957 to 1959.

At the dinner, Fechtel received a pewter coffee service and a huge portrait of himself. The artist of the portrait is George Mandus of Atlanta. His wife Sheilah and children, Edward and Mary Ellen, and his sister, Mrs. Susan Pittman, attended the dinner.