JAMIE CARTER
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Company: Crittenden Regional Hospital
Basics: Carter is a member of the committee assigned to establish a trauma network for Arkansas.

Jamie Carter, the chief executive officer of Crittenden Regional Hospital in West Memphis, knows that state lines and political boundaries don’t matter in the business of saving lives.

As a member of the committee assigned to establish a trauma network for Arkansas, he pushed for the state to include the Regional Medical Center at Memphis and Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center as participating hospitals. Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe signed into law in March the Arkansas trauma system, which will be funded by a raised tobacco tax.

The two Memphis hospitals applied to be Level 1 trauma centers by the July 1 deadline. The hospitals will receive a portion of the funding in proportion to the number of Arkansas residents they treat. The Arkansas state trauma system is slated to begin setting up operations next year.

“The MED is very, very important to those of us in the Mid-South and what we do for the stabilization of trauma patients – shipping those patients to The MED to get the fantastic treatment that they get over there,” Carter said. “In order to do that, we needed The MED to be recognized as a trauma hospital in the state of Arkansas. That’s what we accomplished over here.”

The MED has treated Arkansas residents for years without receiving compensation for a sizeable number of those patients. Le Bonheur specializes in treating children for trauma injuries.

“Now, they are under the same funding mechanism as other (Arkansas) hospitals for start-up funds as well as recurring funds for the treatment of trauma for Arkansans,” Carter said. “They worked real well with us. (Memphis Mayor) A C Wharton had a great hand in that. (Arkansas) Rep. Keith Ingram had a great hand over here in Arkansas. I was able to work with both of them as well as the administration at The MED just to make sure they get the needed funding that they need for treating Arkansans the way they have for many years.”

Family roots

Carter was born in Nashville, grew up in Memphis and has run hospitals in Mississippi and Arkansas. Going into the health care industry was a natural fit for him since his father was a physician and his mother is a retired nurse.

The lessons they taught him, however, go beyond clinical settings.

“My mother practiced at St. Joe,” Carter said, referring to the former St. Joseph’s Hospital in Memphis. “It’s great to hear her stories. She was there when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was brought in (after being shot in Memphis) and was there during that era and has an appreciation for that period and the struggle. She always taught my brother and I about unity and bringing everybody together – what a tough time frame that was and how hard it was to see him in that shape.”

Carter said he embraced the opportunity to take the helm of the West Memphis hospital in November 2005 so he and his wife, Christy Shivers Carter, could be closer to family. Previously, he was a top administrator at Mississippi hospitals in Marks, Oxford, Water Valley and Iuka.

“Dad passed away, it will be four years in February,” Carter said. “I had an opportunity to move back home. My wife is from West Memphis. Her dad farmed over here for years. It was just great for us and our family.”

Goals, mission

One of the first actions Carter took was an assessment to learn how patients and the greater community viewed the hospital. That assessment resulted in the name being changed from Crittenden Memorial Hospital to Crittenden Regional Hospital.

“On the heels of that survey is where we found out that people in our area looked at us not only as a community hospital, but we were also a regional player in this market,” he said.

Goals were clearly spelled out for the hospital staff.

“We changed our mission, vision and values,” Carter said. “Our mission is patient-centered excellence and patient-centered health care for the Mid-South. Our values system revolves around our customer service program, which is the CARES program. That stands for compassion, accountability, respect, excellence and smiles. It’s the way we want to treat each other in our organization. It is a way that we want our patients and their families to be treated when they come here.”

In July 2008, Data Advantage Hospital Value Index rated Crittenden Regional Hospital as one of its “100 Best Kept Secrets.”

With almost 500 employees, the hospital is one of the top employers in West Memphis. The hospital’s last major expansion – the construction of a new women’s unit – occurred more than 10 years ago. Carter has had the hospital, which was built in 1951, updated with new heating, cooling and lighting systems to lower energy costs.

“In the future, we have plans of renovating our emergency room and expanding it as well,” he said.

The recruitment of new physicians is also a primary focus.

“Physician recruitment is probably one of the biggest things on the table right now,” Carter said. “We’re all seeing shortage in the area, and we’ve got some attrition, so we need to focus on bringing in the new generation of physicians.”