Doug
Arnold, new administrator at Northwest Mississippi Regional
Medical Center, brings to the position both extensive
experience and a definite idea of the hospital’s
responsibility to the community.
“This is a 195-bed hospital that employs over 500
people and is in fact the largest employer in Coahoma
County,” he states. “We see over 25,000 patients
yearly in our emergency room. Some 213,000 people reside
within a fifty-mile radius of the Center.”
“Based on these numbers and level of activity, I
believe we have the obligation to provide the most sophisticated
services we can to the broader community. While offering
services that are not available in most towns, we also
want to see the small community hospitals do well as primary
care facilities, and we do all that we can to help and
support them,” Arnold says.
Originally from Huntsville, AL Arnold received his Masters
in Public Administration at Auburn University, and completed
graduate studies in Health Care Financial Management.
He was associated for several years with Baptist Health
Services in Montgomery, AL, and was most recently chief
operating officer at Riley Hospital in Meridian, MS (a
Health Management Associates facility, as is Northwest
Mississippi Regional Medical Center).
“HMA has built a fairly diverse staff of specialists
here,” he comments, “including urology, oncology,
orthopedic surgery, vascular surgery, OB/GYN, and others.
This is the only hospital north of Greenville and south
of the Southaven/Memphis area with this number of specialists.”
Arnold says he is excited about the Clarksdale’s
facility’s recent and planned expansions. “Our
Women’s and Children’s Pavilion provides labor,
delivery, recovery, and post-partum care all in the same
suite,” he notes. “We’re also in the
process of constructing an area where we’ll offer
a 14-bed inpatient rehab service-something that’s
not available in this area.” The rehab unit, targeted
to open in mid-December, will provide care for post-stroke,
post-neurosurgery, and post-orthopedic trauma patients
who require continued treatment in an acute setting, but
who need to begin rehabilitation, Arnold reports.
Asked about his vision for the hospital’s future,
Arnold answers, “The key to success is the attitude
of service we bring to our business. We emphasize this
in our quality assurance and quality improvement programs.
“We want people who love people and want to take
care of people. This is the kind of organization that
I want us to be, and I’m excited about the opportunity
to be a part of that,” Arnold concludes. DBJ
