ALBANY, GA --
In 1997, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital was asked to participate in a welfare reform program known as “Welfare to Work.”

The hospital embraced the program, which helped people transition from “welfare roles to pay roles.”

Today, around 15 individuals from the program remain employed at Phoebe, with five of them having worked over 10 years.

“It means a very lot to me, because it gave me the opportunity to get off well fair, to get a job that I could get paid every two weeks and that I could raise my grandchildren,” said Thelma Cutts, who went through the program 12 years, and is still currently employed at the hospital.

Officials with the hospital say over 350 people went through their program, many of which went on to work other jobs in the community.

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