Jan 17 2007

Michael Biediger, Administrator of Lexington Medical Center was the guest speaker at Wednesday's meeting. He was introduced by Lyman Whitehead who is a member of the hospital board. Accompanying Mr. Biediger was Barbara Willm who also is employed with the hospital. It was a most interesting and educational meeting at which no Rotarian left early or fell asleep.



Last Meeting
January 17, 2007

Reporter – Stan Bugner

The meeting was called to order by President Molly Cousins. Dr. Lynn Campbell gave the invocation. Interim Sergeant-at-Arms John Hanson introduced our visitors. Lyman Whitehead provided a little health and happiness with a religious comparison of ham and cheese. Dr. Judy Johnson talked about the Art Auction on February 15th at the River Center of Saluda Shoals Park. She reminded us to pick up our ten tickets to sell and solicited our help by introducing each committee chairperson and requesting that if we are not signed up to help, to see one of these chairpersons. Judy also announced that a meeting of the chairpersons will be held immediately after next weeks meeting. President Molly encouraged us to participate in Shadow Day on February 7th.

Ginny Barr introduced the attending members of the Interact Club at DJJ. She told us that this newly formed Club was presented their charter during the previous week by Joel Collins. Antonio, the Secretary of the club, told us that their first project was to seek the donation of magazines, so those at DJJ youth would have something entertaining to read. He also mentioned a couple of other projects: securing the donation of six new, different colored coolers, that can be assigned to each dorm by color, and securing more trash cans to reduce litter on campus. John Adair stepped-up and donated the first new cooler. Kelly Payne and a large contingency from the Dutch Fork Interact Club were also in attendance.

Lyman Whitehead introduced Barbara Willm and Stephen Wessinger, who were accompanying our speaker Michael Biediger, President and CEO of the Lexington Medical Center. Michael is a graduate of both Clemson and USC. He has extensive experience in medical administration and has received several awards. He came to Lexington from Florence, where he was the Vice President of the McLeod Regional Medical Center. Michael disclosed the mission and vision of the Medical Center and the strategic plan for success. The facility opened as a hospital in 1971. The Lexington Medical Center now has facilities throughout Lexington County, a conscious effort to locate services close to the community through the deployment of out-patient facilities. It employs over 4,400 individuals, with an operating budget of $400 million. The Medical Center has a much smaller shortage of registered nurses than the national average and it compares very favorably when benchmarked against a standard that includes 800 hospitals around the country. The Hospital operates the 3rd busiest Emergency Room in the State and the Medical Center includes the largest nursing home in the State. The recent construction at the Hospital was planned to accommodate projected growth over the next 15 years and cost $146 million. The Hospital now has 340 private rooms, which can expand to 470, and the 21 new operating rooms are state-of-the-art facilities. Over 600 physicians have access to the hospital and the medical center employs 122 physicians in 38 locations. Another hospital is not foreseen in the near term. There is enough room at the Hospital facility to allow constructing a couple of towers for future expansion.