Larry Clements Thankful for Local Team of Clinicians

ROME, Ga., March 25, 2025 – Throughout the past 80 plus years, Floyd has had many friends. They may have been dedicated teammates, patients, physician leaders, board members, fund raisers, government officials, volunteers, even the occasional therapy dog.

Larry Clements is one such friend.

Clements is one of those people you can't help but like. He's kind. He always asks about your family. He serves his church. After retiring from his regular job, he delivered prescription medicine to customers who couldn't get to the pharmacy themselves.

He had his first heart issue in 2020. He asked to come to Floyd, and he's been an ardent Floyd supporter ever since.
That same year, when Floyd launched its Northwest Georgia Needs More Heart campaign, Clements was among the first to write a letter of support.

Following his heart scare, he had a cardioverter-defibrillator implanted at Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center's cath lab. The device continually checks for irregular heartbeats and delivers an electric shock to the heart when it senses something isn't quite right. Clements was so impressed with his care that he wrote a thank-you note to Floyd President Kurt Stuenkel.

In 2023, when Atrium Health Floyd asked for testimonials to promote our Congestive Heart Failure clinic, Clements didn't hesitate to lend his enthusiastic support.
“They've helped me greatly," he told the camera. “When I first went, I was having trouble breathing and having trouble walking, getting short of breath. They've got me to this point now where I can get out and do whatever I want to, almost. If it hadn't been for those people, I would never, never have been here today."

He ended his testimonial by saying that if you have a heart issue, he'd recommend coming to Floyd.
“If you're having heart issues in your life and your cardiologist recommends that you go, I highly recommend Floyd. You won't be disappointed, and you are going to meet some of the most wonderful people you will ever meet in the world."

When an examination of his family medical history revealed a genetic connection to Larry's cardiology issues, he encouraged his family members to be tested for the TTN gene, which can make a person more likely to develop cardiomyopathy or other heart conditions. His oldest son tested positive for the gene and recently scheduled an appointment with Harbin Clinic electrophysiologist Dr. David Hirsh.

Clements accompanied his son to the appointment and remembers passing a kind gentleman in the hallway. The man stopped the two, asked them how they were doing, shook both their hands and continued down the hall. Clements welcomed that friendly greeting as he and his son headed to an examination room, and he was somewhat surprised with the friendly gentleman later entered the exam room and introduced himself.
“I'm Dr. Hirsh," he told them.

That encounter quickly moved Dr. Hirsh's identity in Clements' mind from “the heart doctor" to “MY doctor."
By the end of the visit, Clements knew quite a bit about Dr. Hirsh's family, and he can recount the story of how it was Darlington School that brought the physician to Rome. But that's not unusual for Clements. He considers emergency physician Dr. Kevin Hardwell, his family's cardiologist Dr. Charles Baggett, former heart failure clinic manager Emily Costolnick and nurse Kelsey Correll, a registered nurse in progressive cardiology all his friends.

The staff at the heart failure clinic, he said, “make you feel like you are just so welcome when you come in there. And if I have a heart issue, I just call over there and tell them."

Correll was with him, he recalls, when his heart stopped during a hospital stay. She grabbed Clements and eased him to the floor so he wouldn't be injured and quickly called a code blue.

During a later stay, when Clements had COVID-19, Correll came to see him. He asked her how long he had been unconscious when his heart stopped. Her reply endeared her to Clements. “You were gone about 10 minutes before you came back to me."

“She is just a special young lady in my heart," Clements said. “I've written Kurt a letter about how great the hospital is."
His words were deliberate. These teammates – Dr. Hardwell, Dr. Baggett, Costolnick, Correll and now Dr. Hirsh have taken care of Clements' heart, and he truly holds them very dearly in his own.

​About Atrium Health Floyd
The Atrium Health Floyd family of health care services is a leading medical provider and economic force in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd is part of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, created from the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health. Atrium Health Floyd strategically combined with Harbin Clinic in 2024 and employs more than 5,200 teammates who provide care in over 40 medical specialties at four facilities: Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center – a 361-bed full-service, acute care hospital and regional referral center in Rome, Georgia; Atrium Health Floyd Polk Medical Center in Cedartown, Georgia; and Atrium Health Floyd Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Alabama; and Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center Behavioral Health, also in Rome. Together, Atrium Health Floyd and Harbin Clinic provide primary care, specialty care and urgent care throughout northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama. Atrium Health Floyd also operates a stand-alone emergency department in Chattooga County, the first such facility to be built from the ground-up in Georgia.

About Advocate Health 
Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois; Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. Advocate Health is nationally recognized for its expertise in heart and vascular, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs more than 160,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations and offers one of the nation's largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to redefining care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.