President Mark Killingsworth presided over today’s meeting. A.D. Hunt then provided the opening prayer and Joe Meador led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. The meeting was held at the Holiday Inn North. Mark reported that James Riley, a former club past president died recently.
Ryan Kelly introduced his guest, Elizabeth Ann Kelly. Mark then introduced today’s guest speaker, Dr. Brian Batson, Hattiesburg Clinic’s Chief Executive Officer. Before accepting the CEO position, Dr. Batson practiced medicine in the Hattiesburg area for the past 17 years.
Hattiesburg Clinic was founded in May 1963. It began with 10 doctors and 25 employees. In 1971 the Clinic was incorporated and became a multi-specialty clinic. In 1978 family medicine and other specialties were added. By 1988 the Clinic had 63 doctors and 400 employees. In 2000, the clinic had 80 facilities and was serving 30 cities in the Southeast Mississippi area. Today there are 300 doctors, 200 of whom are advanced providers. The clinic now offers care in 40 specialty areas and employs 2,000 employees. In 2016 an area study, the area’s medical community contributed a billion dollars of economic impact in the Hattiesburg area. The Clinic’s mission has always been to provide quality health care services cost-effectively.
On March 11, 2020, the first positive case of COVID-19 in Mississippi was discovered in the Hattiesburg area. Dr. Batson says health care representatives teamed up with government and other community resources to map out a response plan to the pending pandemic. The Clinic has offered testing and treatments for the virus in an unprecedented response. Many of the newly approved treatments for the virus are offered at the Clinic. Our area has the lowest hospitalization and death rate from the virus in the nation. The Clinic participated in a vaccine trial area for the Moderna vaccine. Dr. Batson estimates that the first FDA approved vaccines will be available in Mississippi beginning later this month. Phase I of the vaccination plan will include vaccinations for front-line health care providers treating COVID-19 patients, and residents and staff at long-term care and assisted living facilities. Phase I is expected to last through the spring when Phase II will begin. Phase II vaccinations will be offered to the general population, beginning with the elderly and those most vulnerable to the virus. The vaccines will be distributed through the Mississippi Department of Health.
For the future, Dr. Batson says the Clinic will continue to offer improvements in the quality of their treatments while lowering the costs for those treatments. Issues that Dr. Batson sees in the immediate future include the uncertainty of what 2021 will hold. He also is seeing burnout in health care providers, which needs to be addressed.
Mark thanked Dr. Batson for his information. Mark then opened the floor for nominations and elections of new officers and directors for the coming year. Mallory Hill was nominated and elected as the President-Elect. Bill MacLauchlan will serve as Lynn Walton’s Sergeant of Arms beginning in July 2021. Ryan Kelly and Stew Deen were nominated and elected to fill two board seats in the coming year.
There being no further business to come before the club, Mark thanked those who were able to attend today’s meeting and those who joined via Zoom. He then adjourned the meeting with our motto: “Service Above Self.”