Steven L. Kelley, President, and CEO of Ellenville Regional Hospital joins Jill in a discussion on the changing landscape of the healthcare industry as well as his involvement with Nicky's Gardens of Hope as a Board Member. Jill also gives a longer than usual introduction, tying together past, present and future guests, and some back story on the broadening subject matter, inspiration, and vision for the podcast.

Steve has been the President and CEO of Ellenville Regional Hospital since September 2003. "He has a diverse background in the computer, research, and healthcare industries. Under Mr. Kelley’s leadership, ERH has been recognized with 4 national awards from HRSA for patient safety and medication safety, has been recognized by the National Rural Health Association as one of the top 20 Critical Access Hospitals in the country for Quality, and has been a leader in New York State in the areas of quality measurement and rural health. Many other significant awards have followed."(http://bit.ly/31zKK0E). I thoroughly enjoyed my discussion with Steve and have more audio that will be included in future episodes. He discusses his entry into the healthcare industry after some words from his grandfather; "I was really quite successful in what I was doing in it. And I visited my 90 some year old grandfather. And I was telling him how successful I was how I had really nice clothes and suspenders and I had a new car and took great vacations. I owned a house before I was 25. I kind of the world by the tail, but my grandfather was a farmer and a Presbyterian minister and any money that he ever made, he gave away. Because he thought other people needed it more. And all of my efforts to impress him. Were all they did is turned him off. "

He talks more about how he went from working in a business/IT setting to the healthcare industry and how this led to his success questioning the reasoning of doing things the same way because that's the way they've always been done. He is continually thinking outside the box and looking for ways to innovate, improve collaboratively with his staff which has led to a complete turnaround for Ellenville Regional Hospital.

"Under Mr. Kelley’s leadership, ERH has been recognized with 4 national awards from HRSA for patient safety and medication safety, has been recognized by the National Rural Health Association as one of the top 20 Critical Access Hospitals in the country for Quality, and has been a leader in New York State in the areas of quality measurement and rural health"

He also serves as a board member for Nicky's Gardens of Hope, an innovative program designated as is the first Financially and Environmentally sustainable resident community solution designed to provide a holistic life for Adults with Autism and IDD (Intellectually Developmentally Disabled). (http://bit.ly/316fk1L)

Steve discusses how he was inspired by Founder & CEO of NGOH, Adriana PIltz and why he is motivated and inspired by the innovative and unique approach Adriana and her team at NGOH has to meet the long term needs of this rapidly growing population.

If you'd like to skip past the intro and jump right into the episode, jump to 14 minutes! Check out our crowdfunder and please share it if you can: http://bit.ly/33xlERc

Steven Kelley's Links:
Ellenville Regional Hospital: http://www.ellenvilleregional.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-kelley-a28847a/
Nicky's Gardens of Hope: https://nickysgardensofhope.com
Adriana Piltz' GoFundMe: http://bit.ly/316fk1L