Thomas Goss has done a lot of racing in his life — on foot, in cars, and on motorcycles — but it was a short trip in an airplane that nearly ended disastrously.
Goss, now 56 and the new Chief Executive Officer at Putnam General Hospital, had taken off in Macon Nov. 17, 2018, with two daughters and flew over Mercer University and other sights before heading out of town.
“We flew to a private airstrip where they build houses, and you can have a hanger. But,” he pointed out, “when we were leaving, climbing out as we took off, we had some mechanical failure. And, it’s a miracle it didn’t kill all of us, to be honest with you.
“We had a mechanical failure and went out through the trees,” Goss explained. “Totaled the plane, tore the wings off of it. It was full of fuel. Didn’t catch on fire. It was a horrific accident, but all three of us walked away without a scratch.”
A look back at Goss’s life reveals that flying planes was just one of his pastimes that included speed. He started with a small bike just before turning four and, by 1982, raced dirt bikes.
“I had a couple of bad accidents with that. So, I talked my dad into letting me drag race at 12. He bought me a Suzuki 750cc.”
Goss got some advice from an established racer and started winning. “A year later my dad buys me an 1100 Suzuki, and we really go racing then.”
That led to the next phase.
“I started just driving everybody’s car that would let me drive. I was a pretty good drag racer, so I had a lot of people saying, ‘Hey, you want to drive my car this weekend at this race and that race?’” Goss raced with his own vehicles and won his share of events before stopping competitively a number of years ago.
“You just get to a point in your life. I know a lot of guys that are my age. They’ll argue this point with me, and that’s okay. But really, at my age, how competitive could I really be?”
Beginning of nursing career
When he wasn’t racing, Goss, who grew up in Macon, began the journey that ultimately led him to Putnam General. He earned his associate’s degree in nursing at Gordon State College in Barnesville. He received his bachelor’s degree in nursing at Middle Georgia State (formerly Macon State College) and his master’s degree from Western Governors University.
Goss began working at the Medical Center in 1995 as an EMT, obtained his paramedic license in 1996, and worked in the EMS as a paramedic. That led to complications.
Goss pointed out that today stretchers are built to go up and down with the touch of a button. Back then, not so much.
“We had to get one person on one side of the stretcher, one on the other,” he recalled. “And we would let it down. Then we would have to pick it up and then put it in the ambulance. And I had a pretty significant back injury related to that.”
That injury led to back surgery and the end of his paramedic career.
When he returned to the Medical Center, Goss worked as a nurse and trauma nurse, then moved up to clinical lead educator in the cardiovascular ICU. He became the nurse manager in that unit during COVID. “We converted it into the COVID ICU during that time,” he recalled.
“Then in 2022, I became Director of Oncology at the Cancer Life Center at the Medical Center of Central Georgia. At the end of 2023 I became the Chief Operating Officer.”
The new Putnam General CEO discussed the various mergers and acquisitions of what has become Navicent Macon.
“It was a learning process to go through all of the mergers that we did over the years and ending up as a chief operating officer. I never thought I’d leave. I’d been there a long time and never thought I’d leave until this particular position came open.”
Reflecting on his moves from emergency room nurse to now, Goss credited a friend and superior, Johnny Williams.
“He said to me, ‘If you don’t pretty much force you to leave the emergency room, you’re never going to leave, and you have more to offer than just working in an emergency room … I just feel like you can have a positive impact on a lot more people.’ So that’s kind of how it started.”
Goss is appreciative. “It seems like I am always just being blessed … it’s always like God’s just putting me in the right place at the right time.”
Goss shared that he was told last year of the planned retirement of the Putnam CEO and was asked to help initiate a search, if requested. He talked to several board members to get an idea of their vision for the hospital.
“So we were working together discussing those things for two or three months. And at that point it just almost fell together. We’re talking about all these things. Why don’t we just do them together? And that’s kind of how it came together.”
His new facility has much to offer
Goss speaks with pride of his new job and the small hospital.
“People ride by this facility. It was built in 1968, and it needs a little facelift,” he acknowledged. “We hope to be working on that real soon. But when you come through the doors, it’s not 1968. It’s definitely 2026 and beyond. We have equipment and procedures here that are not available anywhere south of Atlanta in the state of Georgia.
“We have a contrast mammography machine that can detect the smallest of cancer cells, and there is not one of those machines south of Atlanta. The Medical Center of Central Georgia doesn’t have one.”
Putnam General also has state-of-the-art equipment purchased just two weeks ago.
“We’re only the second hospital in the state of Georgia to have this. It’s a new piece of equipment that’s robotic. It utilizes AI as well to map out the area of the prostate, where you can remove the prostate in that area, but not lose sexual function. And you go home; it’s not an invasive procedure.”
The hospital also has a new CT machine that could help rule out having a heart cath as well as potentially replace the more traditional colonoscopies where there are no obvious issues.
“So, there are things at this hospital that are cutting edge,” Goss declared. “They can save lives and make a difference. And when I decided to get that new aqua machine a couple of weeks ago, it didn’t take me a year worth of meetings to do it. I did it in one day, and that’s the big advantage.”
Looking toward the future, Goss shared tentative plans.
“I am looking at it from a standpoint of what can I do for maybe the next eight years to just have the greatest benefit for the most people that I can. So that’s kind of the way I look at this. That’s basically been my prayer, that the Lord put me in the place that He wants me, not where I want it to be.”
The hospital executive also plans to give back.
“I am committed to going back to Gordon College and teaching for maybe three years,” he made clear. “I feel like I just need to do that. I wouldn’t be where I am at today without Gordon College and the professors that are there.”
Reflecting on his personal life, Goss said first he was married for 23 years before a divorce and has two daughters, Kelli, a Baldwin County deputy, and Lindsey, a recent graduate of Wesleyan College Nursing School.
“And then in 2014, me and my wife, Courtney, got married,” he said with a big smile. “That was the best thing that ever happened to me.” Courtney has two daughters as well, Makenzie and Kyndall. “So I have two bonus daughters, I like to say.”
Goss has lived in Jones County since the mid-1990s, and he didn’t pay a contractor to build his home.
“A lot of people, when they talk about building their own house, they hire their subcontractors and the subcontractors to do the work. That was not the case for me,” he stressed. “I drove every nail in that house with my hammer; no nail gun, a hammer. And,” he added, “it’s rewarding to do something like that.”
Goss said his work ethic came from his mother, who married and divorced twice before marrying one more time. “Her third husband, he’s the guy that really raised me. He was a pastor, and I mean I had the best childhood when I got to that point.”
Goss’s oldest sister is a nurse with a master’s degree, his brother is a nurse, and his younger sister is the general counsel for an automotive group and the author of more than 25 books.
“None of it was possible without my mom,” he emphasized. “She always told us that we could do anything we wanted to do and that we needed to get our education. She always believed in us, supported us, and I don’t know many situations where there are four kids, three different dadstype situation, and all of the kids end up doing well.”
