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said Matt Hasbrouck, CEO. “She is an experienced physician who will provide safe, high-quality anesthesia and pain management care to our patients during the course of their medical treatments.”
Crews grew up in Broxton in Coffee County, where her father, Grady King, served as a Southern Baptist minister. Reverend King’s pastoral duties relocated his family to the community of Warrenton near Augusta when Dr. Crews was 14, and she graduated from high school there.
At that point in her life, Crews, who always knew she wanted to become a doctor, was gravitating toward family medicine. She received a scholarship at Shorter College in Rome where she earned a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. She also met her future husband, Chad, at Shorter, where he was studying to become a teacher.
Crews earned a medical degree and served her residency at the Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University). It was during her residency at MCG that her father became ill with esophageal cancer, and she decided to focus her studies on pain management and the specialty of anesthesiology.
After receiving her medical degree and serving her residency at MCG, Crews worked for three years at Baptist Hospital in Columbia, S.C. She returned to Augusta and worked at Trinity Hospital for a year, then joined the staff at Doctor’s Hospital of Augusta, which is home to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center, the largest burn center in the United States. While she was practicing at Doctor’s Hospital, the facility was designated as a Level 2 trauma center. “They (burn victims) are sickest of all patients. We had 38 ICU beds for burn patients and 24 main ICU beds,” Crews said of her work at Doctor’s Hospital.
Joining Meadows in January, Crews adds her expertise to an experienced team of anesthesiologists who rotate so that two are always on duty at the hospital, one is on call, and another is available as needed. She said she was attracted to a small, rural community because it is a good place to raise a family, and to Meadows specifically because the range of services available at the regional facility and a progressive approach to medicine opens doors for expanding experience.
The number one job of an anesthesiologist is to keep the patients safe throughout surgery. “A close number two is keeping the patient comfortable and ensuring the patient is still comfortable when they leave the hospital,” she said.
Commenting on how the field of anesthesiology has evolved over the years, Crews said, “Pain management has become more comprehensive. We look at the whole continuum. That’s why we call it the peri-operative phase.” This involves optimizing the patient before surgery and following through with enhanced pain management after surgery.
Crews has no regrets about the choice she made long ago to become an anesthesiologist. “Anesthesia is challenging mentally; it often requires split-second decisions and you see results right away.” She said of her decision to pursue medicine. “It is my calling for sure. My faith in Christ is the number one thing. I feel like God gives you what you need, to do what needs to be done.”
Crews and her husband of 21 years, have four children: daughter, Reagan, 15; son Grady, 12; Toby, 10; and Viktor, 8. Crews’ mother, Diane King, lives with the Crews family at their home in Lyons. “Having her near is wonderful. I need my Mama,” Crews said. Chad, relying on his background in education, homeschools the couple’s children. He is also a magician. “He’s the most interesting person I know,” Crews said of her husband’s talent for combining literature and magic to teach children. He is busy in October and November traveling to cities like Atlanta to perform and entertain.
The decision to go into anesthesiology and the decision to move to Toombs County has brought balance to Crews’ personally and professionally. “I know this is where I am meant to be. God knew what we (my family and I) needed, and what the hospital needed, and He brought it all together. I am so grateful.”
