‘I'm glad it is there'

Tommy Lake saw the eye rolls, the sideway looks, the sly smiles.

He was going to have his surgery where?

In Port St. Joe at Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf? Not Panama City or Gainesville or Dothan?

Was he, in short, out of his mind?

“When I told people I was going to have major surgery here, I got plenty of people asking me why I was going to do that,” Lake said. “But the experience was above my expectations.”

The experience that sent Lake to Sacred Heart had lingered for a time. Lake has gastrointestinal issues and the bouts of pain could be debilitating.

One of those bouts recently sent him to the Sacred Heart emergency room.

“They could see when I came in the door I was in a lot of pain,” Lake said, adding that volunteers and medical staff got him situated and comfortable immediately, telling him the paperwork could wait. “The service was exceptional. The people were exceptional. They took good care of me and diagnosed the problems.”

In short time, he was seeing Dr. Richard Brunner, the general practice physician who has worked at Sacred Heart for much of the two years it has been open.

The need for immediate surgery was diagnosed. Lake had his choice – it turned out to be as easy as a handshake.

“I believed in the hospital, I believed in Dr. Brunner and I believed in the staff,” Lake said. “And it was one of those things, not only did I have confidence in the staff, but the logistics of being in Gainesville, with three small children and a business I had to keep going – this was perfect.”

But as he discussed his upcoming surgery with friends and folks around town, well, the response was akin to wondering if he needed a CT scan of his brain rather than gastrointestinal surgery.

“I told them I am thinking of doing it here and they wondered what I was thinking, but it is right down the street from my house, I have confidence in the staff and the doctor,” Lake said. “I am going to a new, clean hospital. It seemed right.”

Surgery went well as did his few days of recovery in the hospital prior to his release.

“They treated me like gold,” Lake said. “By about a day or so into it I felt like I was with family. Having that comfort makes you confident. I could barely reach for the button to ask for help and they were there literally on the spot.

“My family was treated like gold. The bottom line is I felt like I was being treated by family. That is pretty wonderful.”

As he looks back and considers his decision, Lake wonders why there was ever any doubt in his or anyone else’s mind.

Sacred Heart on the Gulf, for Lake, was home, literally.

“After the fact I am even more glad I did it there than before,” Lake said. “I am glad (the hospital) is there. I would recommend it to anyone who would need the services they offer there.”

As the hospital nears its two-year anniversary next month, those services continue to grow, as the hospital formally dedicated a new women’s center last month and accepted significant donations toward a new cardiopulmonary unit.

That growth, Dr. Henry Roberts, president of the Sacred Heart Foundation, is fueled by the community and by commitments such as the Port St. Joe Lions Club just completed – five years early. (See related story B1)

Success in fundraising efforts, particularly the annual Sportsman’s Banquet, allowed the Lions Club to officially retire its 10-year, $50,000 pledge to the hospital last month, five years ahead of schedule.

“I think that kind of thing is the local community saying thank you,” Roberts said this week where he was, as usual, on the road on Foundation business. “It is saying thank you for believing in us, sticking with us, doing what you said you would do.

“It is affirmation from the community saying thank you for following through on your commitment, so we are following through on ours.”

Roberts noted that commitment has defined the partnership between hospital and community from the outset. St. Joe Company donated some $7 million worth of land and upfront costs while the community raised another $3 million in private donations.

As was stated in this column five years ago after a trip to the Sacred Heart Hospital in Destin; that facility is defined by plaques that line hallways and stand guard outside rooms and attest to the community’s contribution to the hospital.

No different on the Gulf. Observe the plaques around that hospital, be greeted by the warm friendly smiles of the volunteers and staff that are the first impression of that beautiful facility and there is little doubt it is a community hospital, a home.

“As we raised money we could do the kind of things we wanted to do,” Roberts said, adding that money raised in the community is leveraged through Ascension Health, the parent company of Sacred Heart. on a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. “Having the Lions Club step up as they did means we are able to do what we want to do sooner.

“For instance, look at the digital mammography and bone density equipment we were able to get through the health department and by leveraging donations from the community,” Roberts said. “To have that for the community was huge for us.”

For one proud Lion Club member, Lake, and so many others who have had lives saved and changed by a facility that has risen and grown over the past two years, Sacred Heart Hospital on the Gulf is also huge.

A huge collaboration of community and health care provider at a time of great economic upheaval.

Sacred Heart, Port St. Joe, Gulf County – you done good. That facility turning two in a few weeks is a testament, and celebration, of you.