CMH mainstays guide hospital to 25-year milestone

Babb was hired in 1981 to help get the hospital built and running smoothly.

He brought with him more than a decade of hospital administration experience.

CMH opened for business in 1982, and 25 years later, Babb has a unique perspective of the milestone anniversary.

“It’s been a lot of hard work trying to do the proper planning and trying to find the quality people that we need to allow the organization to grow,” Babb says. “That includes not only physicians but all the staff and leaders we have in the organization.”

About 35 of the individuals that joined the staff when the hospital opened are still serving alongside Babb.

Now, there are more than 100 physicians and 1,500 employees – a long way from the three physicians and 90 employees that opened the community-funded hospital.

Self-sustained

Plans for the rural community hospital began in 1978 with Bolivar approving a hospital district and forming a board of directors to represent the six districts CMH would serve.

When CMH opened the hospital, it was financed by taxpayers. In 1984, the tax levy was suspended because CMH generated enough revenue to sustain itself.

Beyond personnel, the hospital has grown to become a self-sustaining entity, led by the CMH Foundation. Babb also is executive director of the foundation’s board and serves with President Brad Gregory and Vice President Dave Strader.

Another of the hospital’s mainstays is David Hacker, who was elected 24 years ago as chairman of the board that governs the hospital, takes care of fiscal review and oversight of policies and administrative personnel. The six-member hospital board meets monthly, holds strategic planning sessions and participates on numerous committees.

Hacker considers being a part of the board to be “highly gratifying and intellectually challenging.” Of course, it has not come “without some stress.”

CMH continues to expand and add services for the rural communities around Bolivar. Dirt is being moved for the $7 million Central Care Cancer Center, a two-story, 19,700-square-foot building that will have a full-time medical oncologist and a full-time radiation oncologist.

The center is a partnership between CMH and Salina, Kan.-based Central Care Cancer Center. Babb said it should take about 10 months to build.

A medical office building located across the street from the hospital should be completed in late summer or early fall. It will be a 40,000-square-foot building with an outpatient surgical center, outpatient rehabilitation clinic and physician offices.

Beyond Bolivar

CMH operates 28 physician and specialty clinics in seven counties, including the towns of Ash Grove, El Dorado Springs, Greenfield, Hermitage, Humansville, Pleasant Hope and Stockton. Services offered there include long-term care, independent living, residential care, rehabilitation, home health and hospice.

While caring for people in southwest Missouri is CMH’s focus, pharmacist Sonja O’Bryan recently provided medical aid to the population of Pretoria, South Africa.

A medical missions trip put O’Bryan in touch with Africans who could not afford or do not have the opportunity for health care.

O’Bryan’s team set up a free clinic for a week that brought in nearly 1,400 patients. O’Bryan operated the pharmacy where basic pain medications and some prescription medications were distributed.

“It was a very rewarding experience for me personally, and I hope to go with medical teams annually or biannually,” O’Bryan says.

For the future of CMH, Babb said officials will continue to expand the hospital, acquire additional long-term care facilities, recruit more physicians and look for more specialists.

“The biggest hurdle is finding trained people in some of the roles that we have needed,” Babb says. “It’s been a huge focus to get all of that put together, not just for me, but for everyone here.”

The Face of CMH

Donald J. Babb has hung his career on Citizens Memorial Healthcare in Bolivar. Here’s a look at the professional experience of CMH’s first and only CEO.

• Citizens Memorial Hospital CEO, 1981–present

• CMH Foundation executive director, 1986–present

• Riverside Management and Rehabilitation LLC (Bolivar) executive director, 1998–present

• Perry County Memorial Hospital (Perryville) administrator, 1980–81

• South Central Ozarks Association of Health Care Administrators Inc. (West Plains) executive director, 1978–80

• Texas County Memorial Hospital (Houston) administrator, 1971–79

• Good Shepherd Nursing Home and Lockwood Memorial Hospital (Lockwood) administrator, 1970–71

• West Plains Hospital (West Plains) assistant administrator, 1969–70

• Medical Arts Clinic (Farmington) director medical laboratory, 1963–69

Citizens Memorial Healthcare

Owner: Nonprofit corporation

Founded: 1982

Address: 1500 N. Oakland Ave., Bolivar, MO 65613

Phone: (417) 326-6000

Web site: www.citizens

memorial.com

E-mail: infocenter@citizens

memorial.com

Services: Acute-care hospital and health system serving nine counties

2005 Revenues: $62,757,413 (most recent year audited)

Employees: 1,500