Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center chosen as Chamber Business of the Year

LaFollette Community Hospital opened in 1956, and it is now Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center.

By Charlotte Underwood

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – “The vitality of a county is if you have a hospital,” said Rhonda Longmire as she presented the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award to Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center on Thursday evening at the annual chamber banquet.

“It is an honor and a privilege to present this award, because this business has actually saved my husband’s life twice, so that’s a big deal to me … whether or not a community has a hospital is life or death,” Longmire said.

The Business of the Year Award is given to businesses which have “contributed to the economic vitality and demonstrated an unusual faith in the future business climate of the area.”

The local hospital employs 365 people and is one of the largest employers in the county. It employs 50 contractors for support services as well. The hospital recruited two new physicians this last year as well as two specialty nurse practitioners and is always in the process of bringing more services to Campbell County to better serve its citizens.

Mark Cain, the CEO of Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center, accepted the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award.

“LaFollette Medical Center has made a significant impact to the future of Campbell County by its continued recruitment of new physicians, healthcare services and economic benefits,” Longmire said.

Tennova LaFollette Medical Center supports multiple local organizations such as the Children’s Center, the South Campbell County Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and many others. It also supports 11 financial/in-kind donations such as the salary of the athletic trainer at Campbell County High School, as well as free physicals for high school athletes. Overall, the hospital provides more than “$50 million dollars in total community benefits.”

Hospital CEO Mark Cain said he was “so proud of the work hospital staff and physicians do every day.”

“For them to be recognized is incredibly rewarding; they care deeply about our community; they care deeply about doing the right things the right way. It’s a great pleasure for our hospital to receive this honor,” Cain said.

Both Melissa and Mark Cain play vital roles in the community. Melissa is the Administrative Assistant-Compliance Officer for the Campbell County Children’s Center while Mark is the CEO of Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center.

Mark and his wife Melissa moved to Campbell County about 12 years ago. Three of their four children attended and graduated from CCHS. Cain is from the Chattanooga area and has spent most of his career working in Tennessee. For him and his family, Campbell County is home.

“Most of the time in healthcare we take care of patients, but something this community has taught me is that’s okay, but the reality is we take care of friends and family here” Cain said.

The hospital is made up of multiple components and provides many services in the county and surrounding areas. The main hospital has 66 beds, including a 10-bed geriatric psychiatry unit. Tennova also owns the Baker Cancer Center in Harrogate.

“Typically, we’re seeing and treating about 25 friends and family up there every day trying to resolve their cancer and kill those tumors. In Clinton we have the wound care center. Dr. Vinsant is a major component of taking care of that. Up on the hill we have a 99-bed nursing facility.,” Cain said.

The hospital also provides four rural health clinics around the county, in addition to three physician clinics.

In the last year, 78,000 people had care provided through the hospital and its services. According to Cain, Tennova Healthcare also provided around “$15 million in uncompensated care over the past year and also invested $4 million in the community in capital.”

Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center was well represented at Thursday’s annual chamber banquet.

Yearly payroll for the hospital is just about $24 million; this year it will hit $25 million – talk about community economic impact!

The hospital pays just over $3 million in taxes yearly and that “goes back into the community in a lot of different places.”

Cain said his board members and leadership staff were integral to the hospital receiving this award.

“These are all people who grew up here their whole life and have been invested in the community a long, long time, they epitomize and dedicate their lives to taking care of friends and family,” Cain said.

Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center’s Chief Operations Officer Sarah Lloyd said it was a huge honor for the hospital to be recognized.

“We feel like the hospital is the heart and soul of our community; we work to serve people on an everyday basis, especially within our community and we appreciate all the support,” Lloyd said.

Another important role the hospital plays is in training and recruiting medical professionals. Many of these specialists are from the county or surrounding areas.

“We began to focus on people from here and they’re making a huge difference. I go back to the fact that patient satisfaction is one of the highest in our entire company; it’s because of people here who are not just taking care of patients and going through the business, they’re taking care of friends and family and doing it with dedication and the service they provide is wonderful,” Cain said.

To work on nurse and clinical staff retention, the hospital has made the decision to commit a little over $980,000 additional salary to those clinical people who work at the hospital.

“The vitality of a county is if you have a hospital,” said Rhonda Longmire as she presented the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Award to Tennova Healthcare LaFollette Medical Center on Thursday evening at the annual chamber banquet.

“Our employee retention is at 86-percent, which is higher than average, but we want to get it over 90,” Cain said.

Other exciting things the hospital is working on is growing its urologist practice. Cain also announced a new cardiologist will be joining next summer and a bariatrics practice as well.

The hospital also has a medical education program, which is headed up by LaFollette native Dr. Neal Vinsant. The program rotates six Lincoln Memorial University medical students at the hospital each year.

Campbell County is fortunate to have a thriving and growing hospital. Many rural communities have lost their hospitals and are trying to get them back. LaFollette has managed to maintain its hospital due to the strong foundation it was established on.

“We started with a strong, albeit small core of medical staff that some other hospitals just didn’t have and that allowed us to begin to build on that foundation. There are guys here like Dr. Isber, Dr. Mansour, Dr. Narula, Dr. Dhan as examples that have been here a long time, and as we have been able to recruit around that and add to them it has allowed us to go out and find high quality surgeons, physicians, medical doctors, and to grow our specialists; they provided the strong foundation to build the rest of that house. Also being part of Community Health Systems allows us to have access to both knowledge and expertise that a lot of small hospitals might not have and we’re very fortunate to be able to call and ask questions and bring in expertise that we wouldn’t have otherwise,” Cain said.

Having a thriving hospital allows Campbell County to attract retirees, as well as businesses such as the new United Rare Earths business which has located to Caryville. Both the county and the hospital continue to grow.

Mark Cain said he wanted to say thank you to hospital staff and the community for making the hospital the “thriving business” it is today.

“I would like to thank the hard work of the medical staff and the hard work of the hospital staff to take care of people every day. The compassion that I see on the part of those medical professionals is inspiring. The love that our staff shows towards people makes me proud and I really appreciate our local community that is recognizing improvement. Campbell County has a thriving rural hospital now and a lot of places don’t. We have a lot of good things going on and our ultimate goal is that you don’t have to go anywhere else, you’re going to find the best care you can get right here, with a group of people that care very very deeply about you because we’re going to see you at church or we’re going to see you at the ballgame. We want you to be the best you can possibly be and that’s going to be the growth, the expansion is going to be for you guys,” Cain said.

A NOTE FROM THE GRAND ON CENTRAL: “There is so much good going on in our community, and I want to share all this good with you every Monday here on WLAF in hopes that you will start your week in a grand way making each week a Grand Week,” said Olivia Lobertini, owner of The Grand on Central.

Below, take a visit through The Grand on Central.

For bookings, email Olivia Lobertini ohlobertini03@gmail.com. Check on avails HERE. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 06/17/2024-6AM-PAID AD-PHOTOS COURTESY OF WLAF’S CHARLIE HUTSON)

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