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An International View In Health Care
by Mary Welch
June 1, 2007
Linda Clark was a special education teacher in DeKalb County but wasn’t sure it
was really the profession for her. So she took one of those career counseling sessions and was told
she was best suited for hospital administration.
"I didn’t even know what that meant," she says. "But it was business and social services, so
it was a great match. I went back to Georgia State and got my master’s and here I am. "
Right now Clark is senior vice president and administrator of WellStar Kennestone
Hospital in Marietta where she is responsible for the 663-bed tertiary care hospital, which is the
flagship in the WellStar Health System. She is responsible for the administration of the hospital
as well as its 3,500 full-time employees and 800 physicians and allied health professionals.
WellStar Kennestone Hospital has been named one of the top 100 hospitals in the country by
Solucient five times with gross revenues of $1 billion.
"I love it here," she says. "Kennestone has a great reputation, and we’ve just started
offering open heart surgery so it’s very exciting. We’ve had amazing growth, but we’ve been blessed
to have the space, staff and resources to meet our challenges."
Like others in the health-care field, Clark can easily name her challenges. "There is a huge
challenge in handling the growth of our population, especially our aging population, especially
with the high technology that is being developed
is helping them live longer." Staffing is another. The average age of a nurse is 50 and
nursing schools can’t graduate them fast enough. There’s also a shortage of doctors, she says.
"Women have lots of choices and there’s fewer nursing schools. We need more doctors as well."
Of course, there is also the issue of uninsured patients trying the system. "We see a lot of
people who don’t have a primary care physician coming to the hospital to be evaluated but it’s
rarely for minor issues at that point," she says. "We do see the lack of having a primary care
physician as an issue. We’re also concerned about the overall issue of children’s health and the
PeachCare situation. There’s a lot of people who don’t have a primary care doctor and don’t have
insurance. It’s a huge issue. "
But she is quick to offer a reality check, as well. "It’s an interesting perspective having
worked overseas. We hear every day how the American health-care system is so poor but overseas it’s
what everyone is aspiring to. We have our challenges but we have the expertise and talent as well.
"
Clark indeed has that international perspective. She worked as the operating chief of a
private company formed to assist the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) Armed Forces in upgrading its
private health-care system. The U.A.E. Armed Forces provides comprehensive health-care to all
United Arab Emirates military and their dependents, including parents. Living in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.,
she was responsible for the operational management of all clinical support services including
laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, rehabilitation, medical record and ambulatory care across the
system. She was required to recruit and hire staff, establish goals and objectives, order the
equipment, and teach and train the employees.
"I have a passion for travel, and I was visiting a friend in Charlotte who had just come back
from the U.A.E.," she recalls. "I read this little blurb in the paper about how this company, run
by a sheik, was looking for someone with health-care
experience to set up this hospital. They were specifically looking for a female in the top
position. So I applied and got the job."The sheik wanted a female, she says, to be a role model to
those in the country and in the company. She found the work exciting and the country a wonderful
place to explore. She was even the acting president of the American Women’s Network in Abu Dhabi."
"It’s easy to have misperceptions," she says, "and most of the misperceptions people
have about Dubai is one of custom and culture. For instance, men walk ahead of women going through
doors. To us that is rude and awkward but to them, it’s for the man to go first and see if there is
any danger. It’s actually a sign of respect. But I found the people there incredibly gracious and
respectful of the American health-care system. And Dubai is so multicultural with so many diverse
people. It was great. "
Clark says she returned from Dubai to WellStar because "I had the opportunity to come back to
the States and from a career standpoint, it wasn’t good to be away that long. I had family in the
area and knew the hospital had a great reputation."
She enjoys the fact that the hospital has a high level of female management. Seventy percent
of its employee base is women, including at the senior level, she says. "And about 60 percent to 70
percent of our patient population is women. Now some of that is skewed because of pregnancy but it’s
also that women are catching up with the men in heart disease due to stress. They’re starting to
do research studies on women and heart disease to see if women respond differently to the medicine
than men do. It’s very interesting."
Clark admits she loves her job. "No two days are ever the same and the people are so
important — so integral to the entire system, whether you’re a doctor or in housekeeping. I could
do this forever. Even the 14-hour days."
Clark currently is involved in hospital town hall meetings where she meets with the staff
updating them on future hospital plans. But since the hospital is a 24-hour operation, that means
meeting with staff on all the shifts. "We do it three times a year, and we’ll be talking to people
early in the morning but it’s so worth it."
Despite all the challenges, Clark doesn’t regret following her career counseling test and
entering the profession. She has worked in several hospitals, including the Presbyterian Healthcare
Southern Piedmont Region in Charlotte where she was the chief operating officer responsible for
four hospitals, a long-term care facility, ambulatory surgery center, two freestanding imaging
centers and a home health agency. She also
was an assistant administrator for Piedmont Hospital.
"I love to travel, and I try to go overseas one or two times a year," she says. "And I love
the arts and my extended family here. I have five brothers and sisters so I have a big network of
family. But I truly love the people and the challenges of health-care."
