Greenville Health System celebrates addition of Oconee Medical Campus

Greenville Health System celebrated the addition of its eighth hospital campus on Wednesday with several events at the newly renamed Oconee Medical Campus. In June, the board of directors of the former Oconee Medical Center agreed to along-term lease with Greenville Health System. Under the lease, which took effect Wednesday, the Oconee Medical Campus becomes part of an integrated health system benefiting patients throughout the Upstate, explains Michael Riordan, president and CEO of Greenville Health System. “These partnerships take years; I mean we have been connected to Oconee County for decades whether it is clinical services or the helicopter that brings people that needed our services, so those connections are long standing. As healthcare changed and evolved and we needed to be more supportive of some of the smaller hospitals in the Upstate, it made sense for us to work with Oconee and to really keep it as a viable, strong economic engine and healthcare delivery system for Oconee and the Upstate.” Wednesday’s events included several announcements. The 169-bed Oconee Medical Center has been renamed Oconee Memorial Hospital. Jeanne Ward was named a regional president, a role in which she will provide leadership in the achievement of GHS’s mission, vision, values and strategic goals within the Oconee and Pickens markets. “We explored many opportunities, we looked at lots of different people and we discussed all of them with our board, but we really believed that GHS was the best fit for us. One of the number one things we were looking for is we want to partner with a local organization, we didn’t want to partner with somebody from out of state. We think we have a unique culture here in South Carolina and the culture of the organization is incredible, it is the same when you go to GHS as here. The folks are all warm, friendly and caring.” Hunter Kome has been named president of Oconee Memorial Hospital. He was previously chief operating officer of Oconee Medical Center. The board of directors at Oconee Memorial Hospital will continue to function, but its role will be to oversee the lease and to advise the GHS Board of Trustees. The GHS board will have ultimate responsibility for strategy, policy and decision-making for the entire health system. Wednesday’s events capped a process that started formally in January.