from Staff
St. Vincent’s HealthCare continued its progress in staffing St. Luke’s Hospital in preparation for April 12, 2008, when Florida’s oldest private hospital will officially become part of the St. Vincent’s HealthCare system.
Tuesday, executives announced the hiring of four individuals into future St. Luke’s director positions: Crystal Culbertson as director of surgical services; Diana Moses as director of medical, surgical and women’s services; William Schoepfer as director of medical imaging; and Christine Smith as director of critical care and cardiovascular services.
The acquisition began earlier this year and will firmly establish St. Vincent’s as one of the largest health care providers in Northeast Florida.
The name of St. Luke’s Hospital will remain the same, but the specialties offered at St. Luke’s will change somewhat, as will much of the medical staff, during an $80 million expansion, according to St. Vincent’s CEO Scott Whalen.
He said transplant services provided by Mayo Clinic, which previously operated St. Luke’s, will be replaced by increased focus in spine and brain injuries, cardiac care, cancer treatment, women’s services and orthopedics. 60 percent of the Mayo doctors are leaving, and St. Vincent’s officials are currently in the credentialling process for more than 500 community physicians.
As for St. Luke’s newest directors, Culbertson is currently the nurse manager for outpatient services at St. Vincent’s Medical Center. Moses is currently the nurse manager of maternal-child Services at St. Luke’s Family Birth Place. Schoepfer is currently a CT technologist at St. Vincent’s. Smith is currently a nursing manager of two medical/surgical/telemetry units and one critical care unit at St. Vincent’s.
St. Vincent’s HealthCare is also expanding outside of Jacksonville, as the company has agreed to manage the Charlton Memorial Hospital in Folkston, Ga., about 48 miles away from St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Riverside.
Charlton Memorial is a 25-bed critical access hospital that serves a rural area. Whalen said Southeast Georgia is an important market for the company, and the agreement will ensure residents of Charlton continue to receive needed services.