Steadham to lead Morris Hospital

Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers’ new CEO and President is currently a Kentucky resident, but will make Morris his new home and officially begin running the hospital Sept. 1.

Mark Steadham has made a career of hospital administration for the last 20 years, and will be leaving his job as vice president of operations at Murray Calloway County Hospital, a 132-bed hospital in Kentucky, to join Morris Hospital.

“Most of my professional career has been in the Midwest. I’ve just found it to be a comfortable culture. As I toured around Morris Hospital, as well as the community, the people I spoke with had some of that Midwest culture,” said Steadham during a phone interview Tuesday.

The hospitals’ board of directors began searching for a new CEO in February, after the resignation of Bill Bruce in November 2009. A committee was formed to conduct the search and Steadham was chosen from three finalists.

“It was Mark’s previous experience as a hospital CEO that was clearly his advantage,” said Janet Long, public relations manager and spokesperson for the hospital board. “The candidates gave real-life examples of how they lead and he is clearly the type we can expect to see in the halls of the hospital. You can expect to see him around talking with employees, physicians and volunteers.”

Prior to his four years at Murray Calloway County Hospital, Steadham was at St. Catherine Hospital in Garden City, Kansas, for 16 years. In Kansas he was senior vice president for 10 years and then became president and CEO.

Although Morris Hospital has about 45 fewer beds than Murray Calloway County Hospital, he said his old hospital is significantly similar to his new one. Both hospitals have annual patient service revenue of more than $100 million, 12-bed critical care units, and Level II newborn infant care units, among other similarities.

When he begins leading Morris Hospital, one of his first goals is to get to know the staff and community.

“I hope to have interviews with individuals in senior management and department directors, but also I hope to have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with (other) employees. I want to learn the history, traditions and culture of Morris Hospital from everyone,” Steadham said.

Within the first 30 days, he wants to visit all of Morris Hospitals off-campus sites.

Another early goal is to meet and interact with the community’s “stakeholders,” including city, county officials and community members.

“I want to get their perspective and a good understanding of who we are at Morris Hospital,” Steadham said.

One of Morris Hospital’s most attractive qualities to Steadham was that it is a strong rural hospital. Although he has worked at large hospitals as big as 450 beds, his passion has always been rural hospitals.

“I’m a firm believer that we in rural healthcare can do as good — in fact, even better — than other larger hospitals. Because we are friends and family taking care of friends and family, I think we can do some things much better (than large hospitals),” he said.