Chamber VP to join St. John?s

Lisa D. Nally can't wait to be part of what she terms "a cultural shift in health care."

Nally starts Feb. 18 as director of marketing for St. John's Physicians and Clinics Inc., a newly created position that suits her to a T.

Describing herself as one who always marches to a different drummer, Nally has been a pro-active voice in the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce since 1992. She leaves the chamber having risen to the po-sition of vice president of community development and special events.

She was named one of SBJ's Most Influential Women in Bus-iness in October 2001.

Nally's chamber experience, which emphasized nonprofit businesses, also taught her to connect businesses to businesses and will help in her new challenge, Nally said.

What drew her to the job were the corporate values of the St. John's health system, she said. "I am very value-driven." After reading that the system's value statement which spoke of "dignity, justice, service, excellence and stewardship to guide ... decisions and actions" Nally said she was hooked.

She is convinced that the doctors, too, want to "create ... ex-ceptional clinic(s)." Their vision statement, which coincides with the hospital system's vision, is "to be a fully integrated health system (hospitals, physicians and managed care services) which is committed to improving health status, strives to exceed the expectations of customers and contract its services to the community."

It was the "exceed expectations of customers" part of the vision that reeled her in, she said.

"One of the things I expect myself to do in (my) job ... is to treat everybody with respect and to educate folks about what's going on."

When Don Sorensen, chief operating officer for the doctors and clinics, described the St. John's vision to Nally and then told her they were creating a new marketing job, she said, "Why, I could do that!"

So, she has undertaken to market about 400 physicians and 50 clinics that serve about 100,000 St. John's patients a month, she said.

She said she likes that the doctors have a say in their operations and is all for patient choice and competition. "A rising tide raises all ships," she said.

Once word gets out about the quality of doctors being hired, Nally said, patients will choose St. John's. She said she was amazed at the caliber of physicians being attracted to the area. "Everyone wants to live in Springfield, Missouri."

The Springfield clinic is governed by a board of physicians headed by Walter Gaska, MD, as president. Regional Medicine of the Ozarks, which serves the St. John's doctors outside Springfield, put David Barbe, MD, in charge as its board president.

The boards have made "a commitment not only to em-ployees and physicians relocating here but also to the patient. What I was really big on was patient service," Nally said.

Her new job coincides with the beginning of St. John's five-year expansion plan. But Nally said the renewal was internal, as well, as the new mission, vision and values statements attest.

She said she was "impressed" by St. John's Chief Executive Officer Jay Eckersley's Feb. 5 Breakfast of Champ-ions presentation on the hospital system's future.

Nally said the physicians and clinics group wants to improve its image and identity.

No one likes to go to the doctor, Nally said, but patients want to know about the person who treats them.

Spreading such information is just part of her new job. She learned working for the chamber that "people just love doing business with people they know," Nally said.

She also will aid new physicians as they come to town "getting the community to meet that physician first as a doctor but also welcoming them as a new person of the community." She said St. John's recruits about 40 new doctors a year.

"We've got to create an internal customer service base so the doctors want to be here ... in an environment they enjoy as well as their spouses and families."

As vice president of the chamber's community development program, Nally was behind the scenes being proactive for the chamber's 2,100 members, and she plans to be just as proactive in her new job.

At the chamber, "We don't just talk about the future, we shape it as well."

Nally takes that attitude with her to the doctors and clinics of St. John's, along with her ability to leverage resources and build partnerships.

Nally said she was accused once of wanting to create a Utopia. "But if I don't keep trying to reach it, things aren't ever going to get better.

"It's an exciting challenge."

Nally is 14 hours short of a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Southwest Mis-souri State University and completed its nine-month mini-MBA course.

She initially wanted to be a humorous caricaturist, thus the fine arts major, but she left the university when she landed her first well-paying job. Nally worked about two years as assistant general manager for McLean Hotels and Lodging in Mill Valley, Calif., she said.

Nally will continue her education by jumping into an SMSU marketing class at her new employer's request, a class that several St. John's doctors plan to attend this spring, she said.

A graduate of Leadership Springfield Class X, Nally is second vice president of the Springfield Family YMCA board, a board member of the Developmental Center of the Ozarks and serves on the board of trustees of Boys & Girls Town.