Daniel McKinney speaks at South Baldwin Chamber’s Leadership Series

By Jessica Vaughn
Posted 8/31/20

FOLEY - On Tuesday, Aug. 18, CEO of South Baldwin Regional Medical Center Daniel McKinney spoke at the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce’s first Leadership Series held since February. Due to …

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Daniel McKinney speaks at South Baldwin Chamber’s Leadership Series

Photo by Jessica Vaughn
Posted

FOLEY - On Tuesday, Aug. 18, CEO of South Baldwin Regional Medical Center Daniel McKinney spoke at the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce’s first Leadership Series held since February. Due to COVID-19 guidelines, seating was limited for the event and attendees were asked to wear masks at all times except during lunch. To kick off the event, McKinney took a few minutes to talk about the hospital’s response to the pandemic.

“We’ll talk a little bit about two different hospitals,” he said. “We say every day now that we feel like we’re operating in two different environments. One is how do we get through today, how do we make sure that our patients, employees, and community are all well cared for today. Then the second hospital environment is how do we continue to grow our services, expand our reach, and prepare for the next years of healthcare in South Baldwin County.”

McKinney said that as of Aug. 18, the county was at around a ten percent positivity rate for COVID-19. He said according to data collected by the hospital at three different testing sites and compared with national data, it appears Baldwin County is on a downward trajectory after hitting a peak, which he says is good news for the area.

“I’m extremely proud of our frontline healthcare workers who on a daily basis continue to show up, continue to execute and continue to provide excellent care for our community,” said McKinney. “The hospital industry across the US is seeing a major downturn in volume; we didn’t really see that. We saw the same level of emergencies this year that we saw last year, and I think that speaks to the growth in the area and this being a desirable place for people to live, for tourists to come, and again, I’m just extremely proud of our staff’s response.”

South Baldwin Regional currently has 12 clinic locations, one main hospital, two satellite imaging locations, one satellite wound care location, and a continuously growing staff. Three years ago saw the start of the hospital’s Family Medicine Residency Program, which now has 24 residents who are studying to become family practitioners in the area.

A huge announcement recently made is the upcoming expansion to the hospital. A letter of intent has been submitted to the Certificate of Need Review Board stating the need for expanded healthcare services in Southern Baldwin County. McKinney said he believes the board will see the need in our area.

“What we will end up with at our main hospital campus is an expanded facility of about 100,000 square feet that will be new operative space for our surgeons, it will be new patient care space, and then the exterior will be aesthetically pleasing,” McKinney said. “It will touch 95% of the existing hospital and bring that up to code and make aesthetic improvements to the existing hospital as well as adding the 100,000 square feet on a new patient tower.”

Along with additions to the existing hospital, ground was recently broke in Gulf Shores where a new freestanding ER will be built as a healthcare destination for the southernmost residents of Baldwin County. The closest hospital for beach residents is all the way at South Baldwin Regional in north Foley. Once the ER is complete, residents in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach will be able to receive medical attention quickly.

“The hospital that we are today is a different hospital than we were ten to 15 years ago,” said McKinney. “We used to focus on the internal operations behind our four walls. Today I would say we spend probably 75% of our time talking about what’s going on out in the community and how do we stretch to reach the need of our community and the healthcare needs of our community.”

During 2020, South Baldwin Regional has received 5-Star Status by centers of Medicare and Medicaid, was awarded Sepsis Care Accreditation from The Joint Commission, and was named by Watson Health a Top 100 Hospital in America.

For more on South Baldwin Regional, check out www.southbaldwinrmc.com.

For more on the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, visit www.southbaldwinchamber.com.