Skaggs Health Center adds three to staff

Skaggs Community Health Center, Branson, announced the addition of three executives to its staff June 22.

Donald L. Miller will assume duties as chief operating officer for Skaggs July 6. In addition, directors for two of the hospital's departments were named: George Shelton has been hired as director of surgical services and Richard Mesquias has been named director of Skaggs occupational health services.

Miller will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of a majority of Skaggs' departments, according to a release from the health center. Miller came to Branson from Elyria, Ohio, where he was vice president of operations for Comprehensive Health Care of Ohio for five years. That corporation included two hospitals with a total of 480 beds.

Miller will work with Skaggs' management team and have responsibility for a dozen of the hospital's clinical and support departments, the release states. With his hiring, Skaggs' chief executive officer, Bob Phillips, will "be able to concentrate more of his efforts on the long-term and strategic direction of Skaggs, in order to meet the health care needs of this growing service area," the release states.

Miller earned a master of health administration degree from Ohio State University and a bachelor of science from Indiana University. He is a diplomat in the American College of Healthcare Executives and holds memberships in numerous professional and community associations, the release states.

Shelton is a registered dietician with more than 23 years' experience in surgical management.

As director of Skaggs' surgical services department, he will oversee Skaggs' inpatient surgery, outpatient surgery, recovery and holding areas, as well as manage 36 health care professionals, the release states.

Skaggs performs 5,000 surgeries per year in its four surgical suites. In January 2000, it will open the Skaggs Outpatient Center, which will increase the number of surgical suites to seven.

Shelton began a career in health care in 1976, when he earned a nursing degree from the University of Kentucky at Henderson. Since that time, he has worked in nursing management or hospital construction in Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Mesquias, the new director of Skaggs' occupational health services, will work closely with area businesses to help them design individualized programs for employee injury and illness prevention and management, the release states. Mesquias comes to Skaggs from Harlingen, Texas, where he was executive director of Occupational Health Resources for five years.

Mesquias holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Texas A&M in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has completed course work toward a master's degree in business administration at the University of Houston.