New Leader for Regional Health System

LifePoint Health announced on Jan. 4 that Rob Followell has been named market president of Southern Tennessee Regional Health System (STRHS), effective Jan. 29. In this role, Followell will serve as chief executive officer (CEO) for STRHS’ Winchester and Sewanee facilities, as well as market president of the four-hospital health system, which also includes facilities in Lawrenceburg and Pulaski. 

STRHS is part of LifePoint Health, a healthcare company dedicated to making communities healthier. 

Followell will replace Jerry Dooley, who has led STRHS on an interim basis since July 2015. 

“We are fortunate to have someone with Rob’s capabilities and experience assume this important leadership role moving forward,” said Robert Klein, chief operating officer of LifePoint Health’s Central Group. 

“Rob is an effective and creative executive with proven leadership skills and abilities. He has worked in many diverse health systems and operational situations. He is a perfect fit to lead STRHS and its four hospitals into the future.” 

Followell has more than 20 years of experience, including service as CEO at North Knoxville Medical Center; Greenbrier Valley (W. Va.) Medical Center; Chilton (Ala.) Medical Center; and Chestatee (Ga.) Regional Hospital. For more information go to <southerntennessee.com>.

Starr Named Head of EHH in Sewanee

Candie Starr has been named the chief operating officer and ethics and compliance officer at Southern Tennessee Regional Health System in Winchester and Sewanee. She joined Southern Tennessee in September 2014. Starr has responsibilities for all ancillary and support departments at the Winchester campus, and is the administrator at the Sewanee campus. 

Prior to joining Southern Tennessee, she served as the chief operating officer and ethics and compliance officer for Methodist Stone Oak Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. She has also served as a Lifepoint Hospital corporate director, with responsibilities in several areas, and has held hospital management roles in areas including laboratory, pharmacy, plant operations, food service, respiratory therapy, occupational health and corporate health/wellness. 

Starr’s qualifications also extend into other parts in the healthcare and community arena. In addition to serving on various clinical boards for Healthtrust Purchasing Group and Lifepoint Hospital committees, she was previously appointed to the Joint Commission for the Laboratory and Pathology Advisory Board. In the community, she has served as chairperson for the Gulf Coast Community Blood Bank, chairperson for the United Way, a member of the Life South Community Blood Center Advisory Board, and board member of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.

University Expects High-Level Care

The University of the South and Grundy EMS have formed a new partnership that will assure that Sewanee residents will receive the highest level of emergency medical care locally available, and that Sewanee undergraduates will be able to train to deliver, and participate in delivering, that standard of care.

Months in the making, work on the partnership began following a report from the Committee on Emergency Medical Service, which was appointed by University Provost John Swallow.

The committee was chaired by Laurence Alvarez and included members Ronnie Hoosier (Sewanee resident and member of the Sewanee Fire Department), Dennis Meeks (Sewanee resident), Taylor Stavely (former Sewanee student EMS director and current medical student), and Adam Tucker (Sewanee resident and former EMT). The committee recognized that the State of Tennessee has mandated a higher level of initial training for EMTs, which will require a greater commitment of student time in order to participate.

The committee determined that “having an ambulance service that provides the benefit of Advanced Life Support (ALS) rather than Basic Life Support (BLS) is a desirable goal… The ability of ALS to provide medical treatment that cannot be provided by BLS at the site and in transit could be critical in the case where transit to the hospital takes a substantial amount of time, as would be the experience and training of the paramedics who must travel with the ALS ambulance.”

The committee also desired to involve students in the delivery of this care as much as possible, and affirmed that “the experience Sewanee EMT students have is so valuable that we think any arrangement for EMS in the area should utilize their training and participation and preserve this service opportunity for students in the future.”

The University agreed, and remains committed to enabling students to participate in the service. With the committee’s goals in mind, the University and Grundy EMS have developed a partnership to achieve both purposes.

The University and Grundy EMS will share in the renovation of a portion of the Mabel Ward building near Southern Tennessee Medical Center/Emerald-Hodgson Hospital, enabling professional personnel and students to be jointly stationed at the ambulance departure site. From that location, Grundy EMS and Sewanee students will be able to deliver Advanced Life Support care to students, faculty, staff and residents of Sewanee and its environs.

“This remarkable partnership,” said Swallow, “demonstrates how, by working together with local communities and organizations, we can accomplish far more than we could by ourselves. The University thanks Sewanee Chief of Police Marie Eldridge and Grundy Emergency Medical Service Director Don Hutchinson for working closely together on this strong partnership to maintain medical care, and medical education, at the highest levels.”

EHH Joins New Regional Healthcare System

Emerald-Hodgson Hospital (EHH) in Sewanee is joining with Southern Tennessee Medical Center (STMC) in Winchester, Hillside Hospital in Pulaski and Crockett Hospital in Lawrenceburg to form Southern Tennessee Regional Health System. 

The four hospitals, all affiliated with LifePoint Hospitals of Brentwood, will work together to share best clinical practices for quality care, achieve operational efficiencies, create organizational scale to enable the addition and expansion of important services, and expand access to primary care services in the southern middle Tennessee region. 

The combined system has 382 licensed beds, more than 300 affiliated physicians, 1,250 employees and serves more than 160,000 people in rural communities in the region. 

Phil Young, chief executive officer of STMC and EHH, will continue to oversee the operations of these facilities and serve as president of the new regional health system. 

This organizational move is designed to address unprecedented changes in the healthcare industry.

EHH Campus Will Be Tobacco-Free Nov. 21

by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

In an effort to provide healthy environments for its patients, visitors, physicians and employees, the campuses of Southern Tennessee Medical Center  (STMC) in Winchester and Emerald-Hodgson Hospital (EHH) in Sewanee will become tobacco-free effective Nov. 21, 2013. Anyone on property owned or leased by STMC/EHH, including students, visitors, staff, patients, contracted workers and volunteers must refrain from using tobacco products.

“It’s time, probably past time,” said EHH administrator Ralph Underwood. The administrative team for STMC/EHH has talked about adopting a tobacco-free campus policy for four or five years. “Several of our sister hospitals have already done so,” Underwood said.

For EHH the boundaries of the campus include all outside entrance areas and the employee parking lot in the rear. The front parking lot is shared with physicians’ offices. Underwood hopes they will support the tobacco-free policy. University Health Service, located in the same building complex, is governed by the University policy. “Smoking and the use of smokeless tobacco is prohibited in all residential facilities and on balconies. Smoking is prohibited within 50 feet of buildings.”

The STMC/EHH Tobacco-Free Campus policy implementation coincides with the annual Great American Smokeout traditionally observed on the third Thursday of November. The event dates back to November 18, 1976, when the California Division of the American Cancer Society successfully prompted nearly one million smokers to quit for the day.

“As healthcare professionals, we have a responsibility to lead by example,” said Philip Young, chief executive officer of STMC/EHH.

STMC/EHH issued a public statement examining the reasons for the tobacco-free campus policy and offering help to individuals who wish to quit smoking: “As a healthcare institution, STMC/EHH sees firsthand the devastating effects of tobacco—from cancer and heart disease to asthma and emphysema. Tobacco usage slows the healing of wounds, increases infection rates after surgery and often causes poor birth outcomes. We understand that this policy may be difficult for tobacco users and have no intention of forcing anyone to quit. We are simply asking to please refrain from usage while on our campuses. We will be providing educational materials and resources as well as smoking cessation counseling to assist you if you choose to quit smoking.”