Flash player is required to view weather conditions. Download

site web  

E-mail this page Print this page Most E-mailed / Most printed

FAIRFIELD — Tom Urban, Mercy Hospital Fairfield's new president and CEO, recognizes the community landscape has changed since the last time he led the hospital.

Being a community hospital is one of the reasons Mercy Hospital was founded in the 1970s, Urban said, and it's still important to meet the growing needs of the communities served.

"That's one of the key ways that a community hospital is defined, we're growing and always have grown with the community," he said.

Urban, who started this month after the past six leading Mercy Health Partners as president and CEO, said he missed the field work, and that's why he decided he wanted to lead Mercy Hospital Fairfield again.

"The opportunity to get back closer to the action was very appealing to me professionally and personally," said Urban, who has been with Mercy for the past 15 years.

Urban, who replaces Jeff Ashin, had previously been the president and CEO of Mercy Hospital Fairfield from March 1993 to April 1997.

Asked about his goals, Urban said, "Keep on building the strong foundation that already exists at Mercy Hospital Fairfield. I'm going to continue to support the good works and the good people that are already here."

"Fairfield has changed a lot since the first time I was here the first time around, not just the hospital but the whole community, Butler and Warren counties. Maybe back in the old days, in the early Mercy Fairfield days, it was more of a 'build it and they will come,' but now Butler and Warren counties are being populated by the downtown hospitals and health systems that want to get a piece of this suburban action. I think the environment has changed, and that's another area where I think I can help."

Urban addresses future of hospital

Question How will you compete with neighboring health care organizations?

Answer "The question is really how are they going to compete with us. We've been here for 30 years and we have a well-established primary care physician network in the community and a number of programs offered out of Fairfield, like obstetrics, like open heart surgery. We are the true regional medical center. These new hospitals, one in Atrium and now the West Chester Alliance, they're really going to be competing with one another and they are two exits apart on the east side of (Interstate) 75.

"And what goes on unnoticed, is that Bethesda North has always had a presence in the Mason/Warren County area. So in Warren County it's going to be TriHealth, Middletown (Atrium Medical Center) and Bethesda that's really going to be fighting it out. We're the established health care provider in this area, and because of that reputation we'll continue to draw people from Warren County to Fairfield. We're aware of the competition. Welcome to health care 2008, but I think they're really going to be more concerned with themselves and we got our niche very well established."

Q What will be the challenges with the $5 million expansion project expected to start at the hospital?

A "We've experienced a really remarkable growth in several service lines, product lines in Fairfield and one of them is obstetrics. Last year, almost 2,200 deliveries, babies were born in Fairfield; that's a very strong obstetrical program. That's an area that needs some attention and a leading candidate to be located up on that new fifth floor of the patient tower. That floor is shelled in and that's where we'll be looking at what's the highest and best use for that unit.

"The fourth floor was just completed this past year in '07 and that's where we've been able to expand our ortho-neuro service line, orthopedics and neurosurgery, and that's been very well received by the doctors, the staff and the patients and that's a real growth opportunity for us as well as obstetrics. I really need to get tuned in to some of the work that's been done to date relative to the best way to expand but I understand that's been a focus for the folks at Fairfield already is to look at ways to continue to provide high-quality obstetrical services to this community."

Q What have you learned from your past experiences as Mercy CEO, and how will you apply those lessons learned for this tenure?

A "I think one of the benefits of me coming back to this role is I also live in the Butler County community, I live in West Chester. I know people in the community, whether they are elected officials, whether they're connected to the school system where my kids were brought up in the Lakota system, the Fairfield school system. I know the medical community, again in line Fairfield is a community hospital; a high percentage of our medical staff live and work the community we serve. I have a lot of contacts I've still retained through all these years which I think will make this return much more comfortable and much easier for me to reconnect with people.

"As much that has changed in the 10 years since I've been here, what makes Mercy Hospital Fairfield so great really remains the same. That hasn't changed and that's because of the fact that we're sponsored by the Sisters of Mercy and are driven by the mission of the sisters. The mission and the core values of the Sisters of Mercy never changed. They've been around for 150 years."