Three appointed to West Orange Healthcare District

The members of the West Orange Healthcare District added three trustees at its regular meeting Jan. 27.

Gov. Rick Scott appointed Windermere women Norma Sutton, Cheryl Miller and Leslie Cervenka to the board, said John E. Murphy Jr., chairman of the West Orange Healthcare District and OneBlood Inc.’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Sutton worked with Glaxo SmithKline for 33 years and helped to construct medical labs around the United States and Europe. Miller is a community volunteer, and Cervenka is vice president of Cervenka Developments.

Scott also reappointed Windermere’s Mark Griffith to the board of trustees. Griffith is a certified financial planner with Griffith Financial Services.

Timothy M. Keating, vice chairman of the West Orange Healthcare District and president and CEO of R.C. Stevens Construction, reported a Management Performance Committee recommendation for the hiring of Tracy Swanson as its executive director, replacing interim executive director Ken Harker. The committee unanimously approved the recommendation, leading to the official announcement of Swanson’s hiring Wednesday, Jan. 28.

“The board was very impressed with Tracy’s combination of business skills, health care leadership and vision,” Murphy said. “Tracy brings substantial experience in deploying health and wellness services to specialized populations.”

Swanson was president and CEO of Swanson Business Solutions, a Disney human resource health and benefits executive and a business strategist and accountant. She is also on the Advisory Committee for BETA Center and has been part of the board of Florida Health Care Coalition. In 2004, she received the Central Florida YMCA Tom Ross Champion of Youth Award.

“I am thrilled to be working with such a talented and dedicated board of trustees and feel this position is a perfect opportunity to use my skills and prior experience to move the mission of the district forward,” Swanson said.

HEALTH CENTRAL CLOSES PEDIATRIC CARE

Greg Ohe, president of Health Central Hospital, announced at the meeting that Health Central was planning to discontinue pediatric care and close its three-bed pediatric unit at the hospital.

Although pediatric ambulatory services will continue to be provided in the emergency room for stabilization purposes, all pediatric patients will be referred to Arnold Palmer Hospital. All nurses currently working in the pediatric unit are cross-trained and will transition to the obstetrics unit, Ohe said.

Construction on the new emergency department at Health Central, which Ohe said would include a kids’ corner for children’s ambulatory medical needs, has begun, with pipes installation. This construction will temporarily reduce available parking space.

The board unanimously approved the discontinuation of pediatric care with continuation of ambulatory pediatric services at Health Central.

For more information, visit wohd1949.org or call (407) 808-3441.

IN OTHER NEWS

• The Community Health Benefit Committee viewed annual grant presentations from grantee agencies Shepherd’s Hope and Dave’s House, said Dr. A. Denise Carter, a physician at the Florida Center for Orthopedics and trustee of the West Orange Healthcare District. The committee declined the diabetes grant request of the American Diabetes Association and the Center for Multicultural Wellness and Prevention. The board unanimously approved the report.

• Finance Committee Chairman Rod Talbot said net assets of the district at the end of 2014 were $192,892,441. An excess of revenue of $153,250 in December put the three-month total excess of the fiscal year to date at $1,138,890, he said.

• A revised buy/sell agreement had been drafted and submitted to the legal counsel of Health Alliance, pertinent to an offer to purchase the Health Alliance property on Plant Street. The Health Alliance Board of Trustees will review the agreements during its meeting in the first week of February.

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].