Hospital Has a Lot to Celebrate

The day before he was set to move into the new house he and his wife have bought in La Grange, new St. Mark’s Medical Center CEO Mark Kimball had other responsibilities to attend to.

Kimball, who joined the La Grange hospital seven months ago, presided over a Welcome Back Community Celebration at the hospital Tuesday as the facility celebrated a number of things:

• The welcoming back of volunteers and visitors to the hospital as pandemic precautions have eased.

• Celebrating St. Mark’s vital role in treating and vaccinating so many local folks amidst that pandemic

• St. Mark’s recent inclusion in the listing of Top 100 Rural and Community Hospitals in the U.S. by the Chartis Center for Rural Health.

“There were 2,200 hospitals measured and we outperformed 1,958,” Kimball told the crowd. “Everyone at St. Mark’s continues to rise to the occasion.”

Tuesday’s event included a slew of speakers including:

• Dudley Piland, the Chairman of the St. Mark’s Board of Directors, who introduced the other board members and said: “We are very, very fortunate to have the medical community we have.

• Dr. Thomas Borgstedte, the Chief of Staff of St. Mark’s who said, “Covid presented unprecedented challenges, but it feels like we are on the cusp of some sense of normalcy.”

• Mark Clayton, Outreach Executive Officer of St. David’s Healthcare, which has a clinical affiliation with St. Mark’s, said “there is much more in the future we will do” as part of that partnership.

• Tod Beasley, Senior Vice President of Hospital Operations, for Community Hospital Corporation, which is St. Mark’s management company, applauded the hospital on its national ranking.

• To close the ceremony, Dr. Chris Little, the Lead Pastor at Crosspoint Community Church, conducted a Blessing of the Hands of the medical staff present, saying: “Doctors and nurses are the hands and feet of Jesus.”