by
John W. Mitchell, Senior Correspondent | October 14, 2022
From the October 2022 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
HCB News: What drew you to Winter Haven?
KH: Well, the first thing is the great culture, which is everything — and that goes for the hospital and the community. My family and I have always been drawn to small to mid-sized communities. It was obvious to me that there was good team member engagement when I visited.
Also, I also had colleague that worked in the system who filled me in. That’s important because I’m at the point in my career that the people I work with and for are a very important part of success. When I visited, the personality of the staff matched my personality, so its been a really good fit professionally
Finally, my family and I liked the location in central Florida. This is a top-ten growing county in the U.S. It’s a good place to live. My wife and I have kids who are ages six and eleven and they were excited about living here as well. People in our community are very welcoming and very proud of the quality of life.
HCB News: How would you describe the leadership style of the organization?
KH: The Winter Haven senior leadership team are very people-focused, very approachable and very visible from an employer perspective. Physicians describe us as collaborative, we don’t make decisions from top down. One physician told me early on that he could tell that ours was going to be a good working relationship — that meant a lot to me. Our leadership thinks long term, that takes more patience and consideration.
BayCare is west central’s largest not-for-profit provider and the system just celebrated its 25th anniversary, so we’ve been caring for people in our service area for quite some time.
HCB News: What are the patient demographics that you're serving?
KH: As with many rural communities, Medicare is a big chunk. Our patients have more co-morbidity than an average cross-section of America.
HCB News: Are there any special projects or initiatives you're undertaking or planning to undertake?
KH: Many people travel to seek care in our cardiovascular and brachytherapy programs. We’re the only hospital in the state that offers coronary brachytherapy. It’s a procedure to help patients who have had a stent placement avoid the growth of scar tissues in their coronary artery that can cause serious complications. We also have an active cardiac program at our Bostick Heart center. Our parent organization BayCare health System has recently invested $50 million to, among other things, advance our minimally invasive heart surgery services. This helps patients avoid more invasive open-heart surgery. Our hospital received the much-coveted 3-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons for many years. And, of course, we have a dedicated women’s hospital that is heavily used within our service area.
