‘We listen, we show up and we stay involved’: 10 leaders on what makes a great community hospital – Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News
Community hospitals play a vital role in the fabric of the U.S. healthcare system, delivering accessible, affordable care to patients beyond major metropolitan areas.
Ten leaders from hospitals recently named to Becker’s “100 great community hospitals” shared their thoughts on a key ingredient to make a great community hospital.
Editor’s note: These responses were edited lightly for clarity and length.
Brian Sponseller, MD, CEO of Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center (Hartsville, S.C.): It’s tempting to point to one key ingredient in making a great hospital — but honestly, it’s never just one thing. Access is a big part of it. It’s showing up for the people who count on us. It’s knowing our community well enough to spot the gaps, and being committed enough to close them.
It also takes a culture of quality. A team that’s all in, always asking what could be better, and never settling when it comes to patient care. And at the core, it’s passion. It’s the nurse who treats every patient like family. The provider who explains things twice. The EVS team who keeps our space safe and clean. A leadership team that listens first.
I guess at the end of the day it all comes back to the roots of our culture, which is pretty simple — and that’s giving our community what they deserve. So that’s what we do with every patient, every decision, every time.
Christy Moody, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing Officer at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center (Hartsville, S.C.): It is our belief that the key ingredient to making a great community hospital is building a culture of high reliability and excellence. Our dedicated team is truly invested in this mission, and we prioritize hiring for culture to ensure we continually provide compassionate, high-quality care. This achievement reflects the hard work and commitment of every employee here, and we remain fully committed to fostering an environment where safety and excellence thrive.
Elizabeth Early. President at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital (Melrose Park, Ill.): A great community hospital begins with a culture that values and recognizes its people. When colleagues feel seen, supported and empowered, they bring their best selves to work — and that directly translates into better care for patients.
At Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, a member of Trinity Health, we believe that fostering a workplace where every team member feels respected and appreciated is foundational to delivering exceptional care. Recognition isn’t just about awards or accolades — it’s about cultivating an environment where collaboration, compassion and continuous improvement are part of the daily experience. This culture of appreciation fuels innovation, strengthens clinical excellence and deepens our connection to the communities we serve.
Jorge Jurado. CEO at Val Verde Regional Medical Center (Del Rio, Texas): At Val Verde Regional Medical Center, the key ingredient to building a great community hospital is creating a culture where people feel deeply connected to their purpose, to each other and to the community we serve. We invest heavily in employee engagement because we know that when our team feels supported and inspired, that energy flows directly into the care we provide.
Equally important is our relationship with the community. We listen, we show up and we stay involved, whether it is through local events, partnerships, or simply being present when our neighbors need us most. That ongoing dialogue helps us stay responsive to what matters most, and it keeps us grounded in our mission to serve with compassion and excellence.
Laura Gamble. CEO at Pender (Neb.) Community Hospital: I feel — and have always felt — that the key ingredients in making a great community hospital are to have genuine leaders and provider support. You must have leaders and providers that are there for the right reason and are not on a power or ego trip. They are truly interested in the people they work with and the patients they care for. They are invested in making sure the patients in their communities get the care they need and deserve. There needs to be mutual respect for the people you work with, no matter what role you play which creates a culture that naturally promotes caring for each other and our patients. In short, just be nice to each other, respect what others do and above all put the patient first.
Melody Trimble. Transitional CEO at Ozarks Healthcare (West Plains, Mo.): At Ozarks Healthcare, our independence gives us the freedom to respond quickly with intentionality to the ever-changing needs of the communities we serve. This autonomy allows our team to innovate, remove barriers, designing solutions that are both effective and deeply personal.
Curiosity is at the heart of everything we do — driving us to ask better questions, listen more closely, and discover new ways to improve care. That curiosity is amplified by a culture rooted in positivity and collaboration, where team members lift each other up, fostering an environment where compassionate care becomes second nature.
Because we see ourselves as family caring for family, we approach every challenge with empathy, creativity and a commitment to doing what’s right for our region. It’s this unique combination of independence, innovation, and teamwork that makes Ozarks Healthcare truly stand apart. It is also what makes rural community hospitals so special.
Michael Stapleton. President and CEO at F.F. Thompson Hospital (Canandaigua, N.Y.): First and foremost, you have to build trust within your community. As an example of that, when [this leadership team] first got here, the perception was we were kind of a band-aid station. If you had something minor going on, you went there, but if it was something serious, you went to the city — either Rochester or Syracuse. We increased a lot of our areas. We added a 12-bed ICU. We brought in hospitalists. We brought in a pulmonary critical care doc. We brought in a ton of subspecialites and basically built trust within our community that if you were sick, this was the place to come. And we have grown significantly since then, in the past 10 to 12 years.
The other big thing in a community hospital that we focus on is associate satisfaction, because when your associates are happy and satisfied, they deliver excellent care, and then you have excellent patient satisfaction.
Renée Jensen. CEO at Snoqualmie (Wash.) Valley Health: One of the most important ingredients to a successful community hospital is trust — in fact, it is one of our core BOLD values. When a hospital earns the trust of its community by listening deeply, delivering compassionate, high-quality care, and consistently showing up, it becomes more than a healthcare provider — it becomes a true partner in health, a source of comfort, and an anchor for community well-being. At Snoqualmie Valley Health, our secret sauce is not just our ability to build trust, but how we live out all of our values: we obsess over excellence, lead in innovation, and foster deep connections. Together, these principles fuel our mission and allow us to stand out as we transform and elevate what it means to deliver community-based healthcare. This is the next generation of rural health — and we are proud to be leading the way.
Steve Long. President and CEO at Hancol Health (Greenfield, Ind.): “What a blessing it is to work in a place where we love people for a living.” This was the description of Hancock Health in an email to me from one of our chaplains more than ten years ago. In the intervening years it has become our unofficial motto and morphed into an acronym: L.O.V.E. (Living Our Values Every day). That acronym became a behavioral commitment called the L.O.V.E. Promise, where we identify the core behaviors that define how we will fulfill our values of being Exceptional, Honorable, Devoted, Reliable, and Kind. Every associate, volunteer and medical staff member signs this statement and we hold each other accountable to it. L.O.V.E. even became part of our five-word strategic plan: Medicare Gap, Population Health, and L.O.V.E. That culture is the reason for our success as a community hospital.
Warren Geller. President and CEO at Englewood (N.J.) Health: A great community hospital is rooted in trust — the trust of patients, families and the broader community. That trust is earned by consistently delivering high-quality care, providing personalized and convenient access and offering top expertise close to home. It means patients never have to choose between world-class care and local convenience, and they know their hospital is committed to breaking down barriers to care, whether financial, cultural or logistical.
At Englewood Health, we believe trust is what transforms a hospital into a true community anchor. When clinical excellence, innovative programs and compassionate providers come together in a way that truly meets people where they are, the result is a hospital that serves its community — not just in name, but in impact.