Opinion: Community well-being starts with care

Success in my field looks a little different than perhaps those in business who monitor the bottom line or profits. For health care providers, success is influencing health, longevity and well-being.

Salute to Health Care has honored Ozarks’ professionals for decades, initially a Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce event and now part of Springfield Business Journal under the banner of Health Care Champions. These are individuals whose innovation, leadership and outstanding professionalism in health care have made the Springfield area a healthier place.

Being a Salute to Health Care Top Doctor 2013 recipient was both an honor and a humbling experience.

I felt honored to join the select list of previous honorees I highly respect. For example, Drs. Mac Bonebrake and Walt Gaska were influential early on in my career, and recipients such as Drs. John Bumberry, Shachar Tauber and Will Sistrunk I collaborate with to this day and rely on their expertise to provide quality care to my patients.

It was humbling to be recognized for building a leadership brand of excellence. I have been in private practice as an OB-GYN for over 17 years in our Springfield community. At Mercy Springfield Communities, I enjoy working hard to stay current in my field, providing sound, deliberative judgment for my patients and improving the health of women in our region. One thing I’ve learned about being an OB-GYN, is when you take care of an unborn child and the mother, you take care of an entire family. It’s a humbling privilege and responsibility that I do not take for granted.

This year, we celebrate a new group of honorees. I would imagine these new Health Care Champions would agree with me that receiving such an honor is only part of the story. One part of the story is the years of training and sacrifice it takes to become an expert in your specialty. Another part of the story is the incredible support staff you rely on that work alongside you to deliver quality care to patients. And yet another part of the story is the tremendous privilege to have patients who trust you to put their well-being in your hands.  

So, as we celebrate this year’s honorees, we also celebrate their education and training. We celebrate the doctors, nurses, techs, administrators and support staff. We celebrate our patients and our community.

According to the chamber, the health care industry employs almost 32,000 people – that’s 17 percent of the total workforce in our region – making it the largest industry in southwest Missouri.

What does this mean to you? Southwest Missouri is a health care hub for this region. It means we have highly specialized care right here in the Ozarks. And for that, we are all indebted to the men and women who dedicate their lives to increasing the wellbeing for our friends and family.

Congratulations to this year’s Health Care Champions. Thank you for serving.

Dr. Darren Lehnert can be reached at darren.lehnert@mercy.net.