It’s not the first time the name has been tweaked since the hospital joined the Rome healthcare community years ago. First, in the summer of 1972 as Redmond Park Hospital, then it became Redmond Regional Medical Center in the late 1980s.
One of the early objectives for the new administration at Redmond involves planning for a 50th anniversary celebration in 2022. Mike Murrill, president and CEO for the AdventHealth Southeast Region, will also lead Redmond as president and CEO. Murrill has been a part of the AdventHealth leadership team for nearly 20 years in markets ranging from Denver to Chicago, Florida, and Georgia. He says that the core of AdventHealth is the desire to serve the physical needs of patients and their emotional and spiritual needs. “That probably sounds jargony, but it’s not,’ Murrill said, ‘I’ve seen it play out in a lot of ways uniquely with patients that come through our doors. When you think about somebody as beyond just as a patient, but as a human being and a person who has a family and connections and needs that far exceeds their physical needs, we have an opportunity to connect to them in a much greater way.’”
Murrill said he’s already witnessed the values of the AdventHealth system in the employees at Redmond after just a few weeks in his new post. “The team has embraced those elements of AdventHealth readily,” Murrill said. As part of the Florida-based AdventHealth system, the Rome hospital is the largest facility in the AdventHealth Southeast Region, including Calhoun, Chatsworth, Hendersonville, N.C., and Manchester, KY. The 230-bed hospital and related facilities in the Rome area will add approximately 1,500 employees to the AdventHealth system.
Redmond has been listed among the top 100 hospitals in the nation based on outcomes in health care reported data. It has been a leader in healthcare throughout its long history. The region’s first total knee replacement was performed in 1974. The area’s first open-heart surgery was performed at Redmond in 1986. In 1990, Redmond was selected as the pilot hospital in Georgia to administer the clot-busting drug Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in the pre-hospital setting. tPA is now commonly used as part of rapid stroke intervention protocols offering a much greater chance for a positive outcome following a stroke. The hospital has received Joint Commission accreditation as a Primary Stroke Center of Excellence.
Each year the hospital recognizes people who have gone the extra mile to make Rome and Floyd County a better community through the Heart of the Community Awards program. “I’ve already been meeting with folks involved in that planning for this year’s event and planning toward an in-person event again instead of virtual,” Murrill said. He wants to make sure that the hospital team shows up wherever the community needs surface. “I know the health of the community is bigger than the hospital,” Murrill said.
Looking to the future, AdventHealth plans to build on services already available at Redmond, both at the clinical level and the latest in state-of-the-art technology. The new administration at Redmond understands that Rome is a very strong medical community already. “There aren’t many medical situations that need to leave our community unless it is something very specific that would go to a children’s hospital or a burn unit in another part of the state,” Murrill said. However, he considers mental health as an opportunity for Redmond to play an increased role in the future. “I don’t know if I have the right answer today, but I know it’s a challenge for our community like it is for every community,” he said.
Improved access to health care is also an objective for AdventHealth in the future. With a regional health care system with nearby hospitals in Calhoun and Chatsworth, Murrill believes there is an opportunity for synergy between physicians and the different facilities across the region. “It goes even beyond physicians. It’s how do we work together to provide the support services that we need? What’s the best practice that is working in one facility and how can we leverage that (across the system)?” Murrill said. Being wise and thoughtful about the desire to keep care in the community where people are and reduce the need to drive long ways to get the best care is also a priority.
