Archives for November 2011


December 1 Meeting

Posted November 25, 2011 at 4:12 PM

Mark M. Gordon, CEO of Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center is the special guest speaker for the December 1 meeting of Brandermill Region Men’s Club at The Brandermill Church. He will discuss in detail the future of the St. Francis Medical Center’s community collaboration and anticipated growth.

Gordon assumed his role as CEO in 2008. He is responsible for the leadership and daily operations of the130-bed acute-care facility, including over 900 employees. The medical center campus is located on 75 acres and includes the hospital, a medical office building, a cancer center, a child care center, and primary care practice. Gordon came to St. Francis Medical Center from Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital, in Ashland, Ky. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C. and a master of health services administration degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. He served in key leadership positions in Kentucky; Mission St. Joseph’s Health System in Asheville, N.C.; Duke Health System; and at Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C.

Many have seen publications that list “the best city/state/area, in which to live,” be it as a young family, as a single person, or as a retiree. The one feature listed that is common in all these categories is the availability of medical facilities and services.

Residents in the Central Virginia area are fortunate to have access to a multitude of medical facilities that offer a full range of specialties and services staffed by highly skilled physicians and supported by well-trained nursing and technical staff. In addition to a major medical school in the Richmond area, there are no fewer than 18 full-service hospitals and a dozen or more specialty hospitals and clinics.

St. Francis Medical Center endured a long battle beginning in 1999, when Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) presented a challenge to the “certificate of public need” that had been issued by the commonwealth’s health commissioner concerning the then-proposed $70 million St. Francis Medical Center to be built by Bon Secours Richmond Health System. In the end, the case was resolved in favor of Bon Secours, and six years ago Bon Secours opened its state of-the-art St. Francis Medical Center just north of Brandermill.

Bon Secours Health System is a $2.7 billion, not-for-profit health system that owns, manages, or joint ventures 18 acute-care facilities, a psychiatric hospital, nursing care facilities, assisted living facilities, and several home care and hospice programs. Bon Secours employs more than 21,000 caregivers in 10 communities in seven states.

Brandermill Region Men’s Club meetings are held at 10 a.m. at The Brandermill Church on the first Thursday of each month, September through June.