Community Health Investment with SSM Health
In addition to providing advanced healthcare services across two local hospitals, SSM Health has remained an active and dedicated investor within the Greater Centralia Area.
As the largest local employer with 1700-plus employees, SSM Health strives to draw physicians and services to the area while organizing numerous community-centered initiatives and supporting countless events and causes.
“Not only are we here to take care of the community and its healthcare needs, but we are also here to better the community,” said Damon Harbison, President and CEO of SSM Health St. Mary’s and Good Samaritan Hospitals. “Community is one of our core values that we concentrate on. It is a foundation for our organization.”
“We are involved in just about everything you can imagine,” Harbison added. “Whether it is the mobile markets, the food bank, the parades, the boat races and concerts at Castle Ridge, or encouraging our teams – be it employees or physicians – to buy local during the holiday season. When we have events, we also want to make sure that we are tapping into our local talent and businesses as much as possible.”
“We work on our partnerships with our local community colleges to grow our professionals, as well as provide on-the-job training,” Harbison explained. “For those we are bringing in from the outside and recruiting into our community, we want to show them the wonderful things that are happening here. Our goal is that once they get here, they are happy and want to stay, and that they also want to tell their friends in healthcare just how wonderful this place is.”
Harbison said he is excited to continue these efforts into the future, while continuing to invest, reinvest and introduce new professionals and services to the area.
“We are recruiting more physicians, and we are always looking at new technology that will allow the patients to stay in our area instead of going elsewhere,” said Harbison. “We are extremely blessed with not only the talent of our physicians, but the technology that we have in our area that you don’t normally see in smaller community hospitals. Our goal is to meet the patients where they’re at.”
Harbison continued “Each and every day, we are trying to figure out new ways to continue the momentum that started before me, and then how we can improve more tomorrow than we did today. For me, as the largest employer, we have a big responsibility to continue that forward.”
