South Carolina Hospital Association Honors St. Francis Board Chair: RADM Jim Flatley Named Hospital Trustee of the Year for SC

Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital Board Chair Rear Admiral James (Jim) H. Flatley, USN (Ret.), has been named the South Carolina Hospital Association's 2006 Distinguished Hospital Trustee of the Year.  The prestigious honor that recognizes dedication, leadership and service in the health care field, was presented to Admiral Flatley Saturday, September 23 at the Association's Trustees, Administrators, and Physicians (TAP) conference in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

 Admiral Flatley has been a member of the St. Francis Hospital Board of Directors since 1996, and has served as chairman since 1999.

"He is absolutely selfless," said Allen Carroll, CEO, Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital and Senior VP Operations for Roper St. Francis Healthcare (RSFH). "Anything the hospital has ever asked him to do, he has done with energy and vigor that are truly amazing. He's extremely hands-on and wants to work among 'the troops'." 

Peers describe Jim Flatley as a "uniter," in that he constantly fosters consensus between physicians, hospital management and Board members on initiatives designed to more positively position St. Francis Hospital as one of the leading healthcare facilities in South Carolina.

In 1996, Admiral Flatley oversaw one of the largest projects ever at St. Francis, the hospital's move across town after 114 years in downtown Charleston, a project that Carroll says he was well equipped to handle after years of service in the US Navy.

"He is accustomed to complexity, having worked in the Navy’s demanding aircraft-carrier operating environment for most of his 31 years as a naval aviator," said Carroll. "Moving a hospital is complicated, and an enormous undertaking. Jim tackled it head on. He's proactive and makes things happen." 

Admiral Flatley's colleagues say his military service prepared him well to play a layman’s role in the fast evolving health care industry.

"St. Francis Hospital's reputation for the quality of care and services it provides is a direct reflection of Jim Flatley's efforts.

Additionally, as a resident of Mount Pleasant, Jim Flatley has been a key force behind Roper St. Francis Healthcare’s effort to win support for a new hospital East of the Cooper River,” said David Dunlap, President and CEO, Roper St. Francis Healthcare.

Jim Flatley's contributions to health care extend well beyond St. Francis; he has been instrumental in promoting services for senior citizens in the tri-county area and is working to build support for a Senior Center in the Town of Mount Pleasant.

"He is working to make a state-of-the-art Senior Center in Mount Pleasant a reality," said Jill Jackson Ledford, Lowcountry Senior Center Executive Director. "He sees the importance of serving the aging population and caring for their health care needs. Because he's associated with the project, people are interested in participating and supporting it. Thank goodness we have people like Jim Flatley in this community. I wish I could duplicate him!"

While duplicating Jim Flatley is impossible, fellow St. Francis Board members see his leadership style as a model to emulate as he serves as a mentor to others.

"Jim keeps the 'big picture' in mind and the hospital's mission out in front as we move through tasks. He has great focus and does a wonderful job of working with different personalities," said fellow Board member Bob Olson and Principal of West Ashley High School.

Throughout the years, Jim Flatley has been a member of the East Cooper Rotary Club, and through the organization's "Gift of Life" program, his good will has touched the lives of families less fortunate. He and his wife, Nancy, a Navy mother of six and grandmother of 21, volunteered twice as a host family for children from Panama who needed heart surgery procedures. The Flatleys opened their home to the children and their parents before, during and after the procedures.  Just last year, Admiral Flatley was instrumental in St. Francis Hospital fostering its first “Gift of Life” patient, a 12-year-old girl from Panama living in extreme poverty who needed special Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) procedures to eliminate the need for a tracheotomy tube. That child was able to return home with the high promise of complete recovery.

"His heart is bigger than he is. He is a man who has spent his whole life in public service. I don't think that he has stopped helping people for a single moment since his retirement from the military.  He is unfailingly generous. I never get over admiring him nor wishing I could be as good as he is," said Patrick Campbell, Chairman of the Rotary Gift of Life Program.

In December, St. Francis Hospital will celebrate 10 years in its current location West of the Ashley River. Plans for a 63-bed expansion are also in the works as well as an outpatient cancer center and meditation garden slated to begin construction in 2007 under the massive oak trees that decorate the hospital's lawn. 

Known for quality and compassionate care, St. Francis Hospital’s 141-bed, state-of-the-art, acute care facility offers several Centers of Excellence and is the most modern hospital in the Lowcountry. St. Francis Hospital traces its mission back to 1882 when five Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy opened the St. Francis Infirmary in a small, wooden-framed building on the corner of Calhoun and Ashley. It was the first Catholic Hospital in South Carolina and is the only one in Charleston.

The South Carolina Hospital Association is a private, not-for-profit organization made up of approximately 100 member hospitals and health systems. Its vision is to support its members in addressing the health care needs of South Carolinians through advocacy, education, networking, and regulatory assistance. For more information about the South Carolina Hospital Association, please visit www.scha.org.