Q&A with health care system CEO offers insights on regional medicine

Q&A with health care system CEO offers insights on regional medicine

The following is an excerpt from a recent “The Commute” podcast discussion featuring St. Joseph’s/Candler CEO Paul Hinchey. Comments have been condensed in the interest of space. The full interview is available at SavannahNow.com/podcasts or through mobile device podcast apps by searching “The Commute with @SavannahOpinion.”

Question: With the COVID=19 pandemic, health care is very much on our mind, and it’s sort of brought to specific attention to what we need to do to help keep ourselves safe. But that’s a larger conversation when it comes to health care, specifically a regional approach to health care. Before we dive deep into that, can you give us a history lesson on St. Joseph’s/Candler?

Paul Hinchey: “Our hospitals go way, way back, actually to the founding of Georgia. Candler was founded in 1804 as the first hospital in Georgia and the second oldest hospital in the United States. When Candler was founded, Thomas Jefferson wasn’t on the nickel, he was in the White House. That’s how far back it goes. Then St. Joseph’s opened in 1875. Later, the Mary Telfair Women’s Hospital joined the system, which was the first hospital in the country for women, and then the Georgia infirmary, which was the first African American Hospital in Georgia. Finally, there’s a hospital people don’t know about, the Georgia Railroad Hospital, which was folded into St. Joseph’s Candler. All this consolidation and partnerships is kind of a natural bridge to what we’re facing today on a much more regional basis.”

Paul Hinchey

Question: When you talk ‘regional’ today, you’re referencing new facilities in Pooler and neighboring counties and even into South Carolina, right?

Hinchey: “When I, when I started in this business, health care was hospital-centric — people would get in the car and drive to the emergency room or drive to have a baby or drive to have surgery done. Not anymore. 

“One catalyst for this change has been an increase in technology. In health care, technology has become more and more sophisticated, and more and more mobile, so to speak. That has allowed for expansion into areas that don’t have enough volume to support a hospital. 

Next Post

LIBRA: Spend more time on self-improvement

Mon Jan 4 , 2021
Eugenia Last CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Eliza Dushku, 40; Tyrese Gibson, 42; Laila Ali, 43; Meredith Vieira, 67.Happy Birthday: Gather everything you’ve experienced and put a new twist on how you use the knowledge you’ve gained to enrich your life. Embrace change with open arms, renewed enthusiasm and without carrying any […]
LIBRA: Spend more time on self-improvement

You May Like