In late January, Health File, a quarterly publication of the Key West Citizen, interviewed the new CEO of Fishermen’s Community Hospital in Marathon. Prior to Fishermen’s, Hal Leftwich was CEO of Hancock Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Below is the interview:
What prepared you to take the CEO position at Fishermen’s in Marathon?
I’ve been in the hospital industry for some 30 years, about 18 of them in CEO or administrator positions at many different sized hospitals in a variety of communities, gaining knowledge and experience dealing with the many challenges of running a successful hospital.
In addition, I grew up in Florida, visited the Keys with my family and friends, enjoy boating, scuba diving, and other activities here. So when the opportunity to lead a hospital in the Keys came, I knew it was right for me.
Now that you have been here about a month, what has surprised you most?
Not as much surprised as impressed by the innovative and creative solutions the hospital had in place to leverage its strengths.
Programs like offering outpatient surgery patients special consideration and a room at the hospital the night before their surgery if space is available, so they don’t have to get up in the middle of the night to make an early morning trip for surgery is one example; triaging patients at the bedside in the ER to provide faster access to care is another.
