Meet Bradley Talbert, who became president and CEO of Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville on Aug. 1. The 39-year-old South Carolina native succeeded Jim O’Loughlin, who retired in March after five years in the role and a long career with parent company HCA.
My first impression is just how incredible the team is here. I plan to bring new ideas and a fresh approach to the organization. I’m still identifying areas where we can expand service or improve experiences. One thing that will remain consistent is our goal of providing the best possible care for our patients and that’s really what my focus is on, the patient.
When I was in college, I worked in a hospital as a pharmacy technician. I worked second shift and on the weekends and that’s where I really got exposure to the hospital setting. We didn’t have all the technology we do today, so I’d pick up orders that doctors had written so that we could get those prescriptions filled. I would interact with nurses and other health care professionals and got to know a lot of the patients. I gained a comfort level with the hospital environment.
We were granted provisional status to operate as a Level II Trauma Center as of May this year and our standards of performance are regularly reviewed by the Florida Department of Health. We’re fully staffed 24/7 with a team of experienced trauma professionals. We should receive full accreditation for a full status designation as a Level II Trauma Center next year.
We have a brand-new state-of-the-art emergency room to go along with our three freestanding emergency rooms. We see about 120,000 emergency room patients a year and we’re continuing to explore our opportunities for additional freestanding sites throughout Jacksonville. We’re looking at identifying other opportunities to continue to grow in that arena and then other renovations and expansions on campus. We’re looking at adding more beds in the near future.
We have about 1,800 employees on staff and close to 800 physicians. That doesn’t count the hundreds of volunteers and contract staff and others that are helping to provide care, so it’s a really large organization. Our direct salary, wages and benefits impact over $100 million year-to-date. We’re the only hospital system that pays federal and state income taxes, sales tax and property taxes in the health care community here within Jacksonville because of our status of being owned by HCA. When you look at the kind of impact that we make and taxes and fees and capital investment, that’s true direct economic impact.
I am married with two boys, ages 7 and 9. We settled in the Nocatee area. We love the outdoors — boating, the beach, fishing, hunting and sports, college football in particular. We’re from South Carolina, so we’re big Clemson Tigers. We’re learning to be Jacksonville Jaguars fans, so we’re excited about adopting our new hometown team.