Joe Saia, the chief public defender for the Griffin Judicial Circuit, remains hospitalized as he recovers from cardiac issues and several other medical maladies that cropped up while he was on vacation in North Carolina in mid-June.

The good news is that Saia is continuing to improve and is being characterized by his doctors as a “superman.”

Saia fell ill while on vacation and was hospitalized in Wilmington, N.C. where it was determined he suffered from congestive heart failure. Since then he has been battling valiantly to regain his health and he currently is hospitalized at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Saia is currently in the surgical intensive care unit as he recovers from a recent laproscopic operation designed to address a medical complication from a previous surgery.

Saia is responsible for overseeing the defense of all criminals deemed indigent in not just Fayette County but in the entire four-county Griffin Judicial Circuit which includes Spalding, Pike and Upson counties.

Sharon Lunsford of the Public Defenders Office said Saia’s friends and co-workers covet prayers for Saia, his wife Pam and their children. She also said that Fayette County Clerk of Court Sheila Studdard is working on hosting a blood drive to support Saia.

Lunsford said she visited Saia earlier this week and he “looked really good,” despite the various tubes and wires that are customary with one being hospitalized with serious medical issues.