Corp America January 2017

, Faith Community Hospital serves the community of Jacksboro, Texas, providing fast and reliable medical and healthcare solutions. Corp Americamagazine profiles this dynamic and dedicated healthcare provider and celebrates how the arrival of Healthcare CEO of the Year, Frank L. Beaman helped propel it to its current success. Having Faith in Success Just five years ago, Faith Community Hospital in Jacksboro, Texas, was facing certain closure because its aging facility had not passed inspection. Even worse, local perception of the rural hospital was at an all-time low. All of this occurred during challenging hardships in the healthcare industry and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, so the hospital seemed destined to head down the path of so many other rural hospitals in Texas. “Understanding that if things did not change quickly, Jack County would lose its only hospital within just a few years,” explains Shelley Owen, chair of the FCH board of directors, “Frank and the entire leadership team at FCH have worked diligently to transform the hospital in all areas.” Fast forward to today. Faith Community Hospital, a public hospital located just two hours west of Dallas-Fort Worth, is now a shining example of what a rural community can achieve through outstanding leadership that includes assessment, vision and action. That is what Beaman brought to the table when he signed on as CEO in 2010. “When I stepped into this role, I was aware of the challenges that I faced. It was going to take a lot of time, patience and change, but I knew great things were waiting for us,” explains Beaman. “Ultimately, the hospital was missing the sense of community – both internally and externally. I knew that if we were going to survive, we needed to begin within the hospital walls.” To achieve a turnaround, Beaman made several aesthetic amendments: updating the hospital’s décor to give it a fresh feel as well as exploring new options for the hospital’s team, as he explained by using the analogy of the hospital as a boat. “There were people hanging off the side of the boat who needed to get into the boat. There were people in the boat holding oars but rowing in the wrong direction. They just needed training,” Beaman explains. “But the ones sitting there with drills, who would just as soon see the boat sink – and we had several – needed to go. Thus, I let employees and staff know that if we were going to survive, it was going to be because of them.” Beaman launched a zero- tolerance policy for all staff, ensuring that negative attitudes were banished. He also created a phone line for patient complaints, and he responded to messages by phone, expressing his sincere concern and directly handling complaints. Beaman and his wife of more than 32 years, Terri, have four children ages 13 to 27 and two grandchildren ages 3 years to four months. In his spare time, Beaman enjoys playing bass guitar with his family of musicians in a contemporary church setting and serves on the board of an international mission’s ministry, Kingdom Connectors, where they train, equip and send pastors to build churches to the underserved population of Yucatan, Mexico. With the concept of providing healthcare – not sick care – Beaman also focused on expanding the hospital’s team of providers, which now includes 10 healthcare providers, in a variety of specialties who can diagnose and treat many common illnesses and other medical issues. Food was another key area – one of the first changes that Beaman knew he had to upgrade without raising the cost per tray. He challenged his dietary employees to find a new way to not only present food more attractively, but also to create healthy and tasty meals. Today the Faith Café serves food not only for hospital patients and staff, but it is also a local K