This weekend, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will enshrine its 2016 class. I’m a big football fan, and I enjoyed watching these legends make their mark on the NFL. But there’s another Hall of Famer who is even more special to me. His name is Dr. Frank Groner.
Dr. Groner was inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Hall of Fame this year for his many contributions to health care. Some of you may know that he was Baptist’s second president and CEO, but he was much more than that. He put Baptist on the map, growing our original hospital from 500 beds to 2,000, making it the largest private hospital in the world.
He brought innovations to Baptist that no other hospital had, including a computer for accounts billing, piping oxygen into surgery rooms and even putting televisions in patient rooms. In the early 1970s, he saw swampland on the eastern edge of the Memphis city limits and believed a hospital could succeed there when few other people did. The hospital built on that land is now our flagship and the busiest hospital in our area.
These accomplishments alone are Hall of Fame-worthy, but Dr. Groner did even more. He lent his leadership skills to a number of professional organizations, serving as president of the American Hospital Association, the American College of Healthcare Executives and a number of similar groups. He is considered a pioneer in the development of the nation’s health care insurance system through his involvement in local Blue Cross chapters.
Dr. Groner didn’t throw touchdown passes or win Super Bowls, but his contributions to Baptist and to health care in general were extraordinary. His legacy lives on in each of us as we continue down the path he paved for us.
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