Continuing a 25-year tradition, the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has selected three area health care professionals to receive its annual Salute to Health Care awards.
The 2009 Salute to Health Care honorees are Donald Babb, CEO and executive director of Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar; Dr. Michael S. Clarke, founder and president of Clarke Orthopedic Clinic; and Dr. William Sistrunk, an infectious disease specialist with St. John's.
Salute to Health Care awards honor direct providers of health care services who have demonstrated leadership in making the Springfield area a healthier place.
Honorees are recognized for going above and beyond the scope of their day-to-day jobs to improve the health of area residents, either by pioneering a health care field or by bringing about significant change in the way area health care is delivered. This year, the chamber added a new category for health care professionals who are not doctors.
Salute to Health Care honorees were nominated by associates, colleagues, or patients, according to chamber officials. The nominations were considered by a selection committee made up of past Salute to Health Care recipients and other members of the chamber and community who narrowed the field down to the three most-qualified choices.
Bolivar hooks Babb
Babb originally trained as a medical technician and radiologist before discovering he enjoyed administration and returning to school for a business degree. Subsequently, he held administrative positions at hospitals in Farmington, West Plains, Lockwood, Houston and Perryville.
In 1981, while working for Research Hospital in Kansas City, Babb was asked to supervise the construction and development of a new hospital, Citizens Memorial, in Bolivar.
At the time, Bolivar had just two small clinics to meet the community's health needs.
Babb originally planned to return to Kansas City once the hospital was finished, but he and his family enjoyed living in Bolivar so much that Babb decided to stay on as the hospital's CEO instead, and he's held that position ever since.
In his 28 years with CMH, Babb has seen health care staff grow to more than 120 people, up from five in the beginning, and the hospital has expanded the services and programs it provides.
"I think the thing that's the most rewarding is that we've been able to meet the health care needs of the people who live in this area," Babb said. "From an organizational standpoint, that has also allowed us to grow from a hospital to an organization with long-term care skill facilities, residential care, independent living units, home care hospice, homemaker transit program - all those things that are intertwined to make our system the integrated system that it is currently."
CMH recently completed a remodel of its radiology department and bought a new computerized tomography machine and upgraded magnetic resonance imaging equipment, and the health system has plans for a new ophthalmology clinic, according to past Springfield Business Journal coverage.
Babb also has been active in Bolivar education, helping develop a health occupations class for Bolivar schools. He also participated in setting up Bolivar Technical College, and has consulted in medical education with Ozarks Technical College and Missouri State University as well as the University of Missouri Medical School.
Independent caregiver
Something that sets orthopedics apart from other types of medicine is that there can be fairly dramatic results quickly, said Clarke, a Springfield native who founded Clarke Orthopedic Clinic in 1974.
"You see people that are hurt fairly seriously, and you get them back to reasonably good functioning in society within just a few months frequently," he said. "So it's a bit different than medical conditions which can be chronic and drag on for years."
Clarke attended undergraduate school at Northwestern University in Illinois and graduated from the University of Missouri Medical School in 1969. After an internship and residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., he returned to Springfield.
Clarke pioneered a number of orthopedic procedures in Springfield, including total knee surgeries, total hip replacements and other techniques.
As an independent physician, Clarke does not work for either CoxHealth or St. John's Health System, though he has served as chief of surgery at Cox and chief of orthopedics at both hospitals.
He also is a veteran with 33 years of military service. Most of this time was spent in the Army Reserve, but he was called up for several recent conflicts, including Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and military missions in Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.
A runner and mountaineer, Clarke has long been active in the local Boy Scout community, which he calls his "major avocation."
Earlier this year, Clarke was instrumental in bringing together works of art for the "Rockwell, Csatari and Young: Boy Scout Painting Exhibit" which was on display at the Missouri State University Student Exhibition Center.
He also edits a national journal, the Journal of Surgical Orthopedic Advances.
The future of orthopedics in Springfield is extremely bright, Clark said.
"Orthopedics deals a great deal with older people, and our population is aging," he added, noting that joint replacement procedures are likely to increase in the years to come. "Not only hips and knees, but other joints, too, which we're developing."
In Dad's footsteps
Sistrunk credits his family with developing his interest in medicine.
"My father is a pediatrician in Mississippi where I grew up," he said. "Dad always told me that you need to get involved with the hospital and other groups in the community to try to make your community a better place. If you don't get involved, then you really can't help to make a change."
Sistrunk earned his undergraduate degree and his medical training at the University of Mississippi.
After graduating in 1990, he went to Vanderbilt University for his residency, then to the Mayo Clinic for a fellowship in infectious diseases.
The infectious diseases specialty appealed to Sistrunk for several reasons.
"I enjoyed the challenge of investigation, to try to find how to help my patients," he said. "Also, it allows you to interact with many different aspects of medicine and many different groups within the medical community."
In 1996, Sistrunk came to Springfield to join the infectious diseases department at St. John's, helping to develop an integrated system of health care like the ones he had worked in at Vanderbilt and Mayo.
"I've been very fortunate to work with a lot of great people - to work with community planners, other health systems, the health department, to plan how the health care system can respond and be partners in the event of an emergency like a pandemic," he said.
The H1N1 virus that surfaced this year is one example of such a pandemic. Sistrunk has been involved in preparing the community and St. John's to respond.
"When there is a pandemic of this magnitude, it is important for physicians and health systems to work with the community to try to prepare them to care for everybody, make sure we can vaccinate people appropriately, have good communication with the public and with physicians in health systems working closely with the health department," he said.
Babb, Clarke and Sistrunk will receive their awards during a Nov. 10 reception and dinner at Hickory Hills Country Club, 3909 E. Cherry St.[[In-content Ad]]Event Details
Salute to Health Care 2009
When: Reception at 6:15 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m., Nov. 10
Where: Hickory Hills Country Club, 3909 E. Cherry St.
Tickets: $40 apiece; available at
www.springfieldchamber.com or by calling (417) 862-5567
