In April of next year, St. Dominic - Jackson Memorial Hospital will celebrate its sixty-fifth year in Jackson. During this time, this 535 bed facility has had a major impact on healthcare in central Mississippi. Today, the organization employs 2,800 nurses, physicians, and skilled caregivers. In addition, St. Dominic Medical Associates employs twenty-seven primary care and specialty physicians, and St. Dominic Health Services owns the ten MEA Clinics in the greater Jackson area that represents thirty physicians. St. Dominic’s is a non-profit organization and has consistently followed its mission to be a “Christian healing community called to provide quality, compassionate care and an Exceptional Encounter Everytime.”

Given the success of the organization in pursuing this mission, I wanted to learn more about how they do it. I recently visited with Claude Harbarger, President of St. Dominic Hospital, to discuss his thoughts on leadership. I learned that they truly are a values based organization and that they use the acronym “I-CARE” to express their core values. I-CARE stands for Integrity, Collaboration, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence. According to Harbarger, “We use these values to stay focused and connected as a team so we can do our best to anticipate and meet the needs of our patients.”