Greater Charlotte Healthcare Executive Group

Fall Networking Social:
Free to all members, guests, and friends of GCHEG
Location: Zink's American Kitchen (201 N. Tryon St.)
Date: September 6th, 2007
Time: 6-8pm

Members of GCHEG, guests, and friends came out to the annual Fall Networking Social held for the first time at Zink's. The turn out was great, the food and drinks were plentiful and free. We had a wonderful time of grown up fun and networking. Lookout for the Spring Networking Social for 2008.

On October 26th, 2006, Ches Gwinn presented the “Greater Charlotte Healthcare Collaborative" to GCHEG members and guests at the Embassy Suites on S. Tryon Street from 6-8 pm. Ches is a Senior Vice President with AON Consulting, Inc. Ches discussed how Charlotte played a role in bettering the health of the community through the Healthcare Collaborative. After the presentation he accepted questions from the audience. Members and guests enjoyed a meal along with networking opportunities for 30 dollars.

Ches Gwinn has worked for clients and as corporate staff to improve the quality of life of employees and their families. Ches works to help organizations improve employee health care costs and quality by applying experience from corporate human resource management and consulting to State and Local Health Care Initiatives.Come early for networking and information on advancement.

2006 Fall GCHEG Networking Social Event The Fall Networking Social took place at the Fox and Hound Tavern-Uptown on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 from 6 to 8 pm.

Once again, GCHEG members took part in the free bi-annual event to meet and network. All members were allowed to bring guests to the event for free food and drinks. Members also enjoyed great music and played a game of pool while networking.

Dr. Thomas H. Blackwell, the Medical Director of The Center for Prehospital Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center, was our guest speaker on May 10th, 2006. The topic discussed, “Medical Response to Hurricane Katrina”, captured the audience's attention enhanced by pictures from Dr. Blackwell's experience. He raised awareness in how this could happen anywhere, including Charlotte, NC and how we can better prepare our organizations should it happen. The event was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel on S. Tryon St. in Charlotte, NC from 6 to 8pm.

The event included an hour of networking followed by a nice meal and dessert. Afterwards, the attendees enjoyed the presentation. See below for Dr. Blackwell's professional biography:

Thomas H. Blackwell, MD, FACEP is the Medical Director of The Center for Prehospital Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center. He is also an attending physician in the Emergency Department at Carolinas Medical Center. Dr. Blackwell completed medical school at Creighton University and his residency training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He has been with Carolinas Medical Center since 1992. Dr. Blackwell was integral in the development of the prototype mobile hospital known as Carolinas Med-1. Med-1 was deployed to the Gulf Coast on September 2, 2005 in response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Blackwell will speak about the medical response after such a disaster.

On March 16th, 2006, our guest speaker, Martha Whitecotton, discussed "Current Issues Affecting Healthcare Leaders" . She is the Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive of Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. The event was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel on S. Tryon St. in Charlotte, NC from 6 to 8pm.

The event included an hour of networking followed by a nice meal and dessert. Afterwards, the attendees enjoyed the presentation.

Matthew Bondurant, Past President of GCHEG was presented with an award for his hard work and dedication as 2005 President of GCHEG.

The Spring Networking Social took place at the Fox and Hound Tavern-Uptown on Thursday, February 23, 2006 from 6 to 8 pm.

GCHEG members came for the free bi-annual event to meet and network. All members were allowed to bring guests to the event for free food and drinks. Members also enjoyed great music and played a game of pool while networking.

On Thursday, October 20th, Anita Yelton presented "Change Acceleration Process" to local businessmen and women at the Charlotte Convention Center on South College Street. For thirty dollars, the visitors walked away with the latest trends in improving their organizations from Anita.

Anita has nearly four years expertise in the the healthcare environment where her GE tools and methodologies enable her to be successful. She is a graduate of GE’s Advanced Leadership and Facilitation Network (ALFN) and has facilitated a variety of strategic meetings, leadership and quality courses, as well as provided individual, team and executive coaching both domestically and internationally. She is also a certified Black Belt in Six Sigma.

The Fall Networking Social took place at the Fox and Hound Tavern-Uptown on Thursday, September 22, 2005 from 6 to 8 pm.

The turnout was great at the social in Uptown Charlotte. Networkers from all healthcare and support service organizations attended the event hosted by GCHEG. The members and their guest enjoyed free food and drinks, music, and networking opportunities. Old friends also reunited to catch up on their life events. Photos are available in the Photos Section.

ACHE members gathered for a presentation of "Competencies of the Healthcare Executive" as presented by Thom Freyer, FACHE. The event was held at the Renaissance Hotel (2800 Coliseum Centre Dr). Thom Freyer is the Vice President of Regional Services for ACHE in Chicago, Illinois. He can be contacted via e-mail at tfreyer@ache.org. Members who attended received one ACHE credit.

Local members attended the "call for Board Members" meeting at Presbyterian Hospital - Huntersville. As a result we now have an extended board of member in new roles (see Board Members for the list). In addition to the meeting, guests and members were treated to a tour of the "state-of-the-art" facility and refreshments.

50 members came together to network at the Bobcats Marketing Center in Hearst Tower (Uptown Charlotte). Experiencing the life of luxury we previewed the new Uptown Arena's luxury skybox suites at the Charlotte Bobcats Marketing Center while networking with local healthcare professionals. Click here to see the site of the event.

September 2004 the group visited the beautiful Ballantyne Resort for dinner and a presentation from three experts in healthcare. Surveys that had been completed at a previous event identified consulting as topic of interest. Tim Gallagher, Healthcare Manager with BearingPoint; Tony Kouskolekas, Director of Carolinas Healthcare System Management Company; and Jonathan Sherman, Regional Director of Eclipsys Corporation covered topics that included how the consulting industry has changed over time and what consulting services are “hot” at the moment. Each speaker brought a perspective from a different type of consulting entity with solutions to similar problems.

Our 3rd event of 2004 was a family style dinner at Maggiano’s in Charlotte. Donna K. Tribble with Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough, LLP shared her extensive knowledge of the Medicare Prescription Bill. She was able to use her experience on the subject to highlighted areas that our organization will need to prepare for change and what we could expect. Before the event many individuals interested in advancing came together to review an extensive advancement packet.

The Greater part of our Asheville region came together and organized an event in May 2004 for the retiring CEO of Mission Hospital, Robert F. Burgin. A packed house at the Renaissance Hotel listened to views the future of healthcare and opportunities for reform. The Asheville area is looking at starting there own group due to the turn out at this event!

February 2004 found our group together at South Park Malls, Maggiano’s Italian Restaurant, where 100 local executives came together for a celebrate the previous years accomplishments and build towards the future. Over 60 surveys where collected for use in developing future events and speakers. It was unanimous that everyone enjoyed the format and similar events will be planned in the future.

The second speaker event followed in September 2003 and featured Brian Klepper, the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Practical Health Reform (CPHR). CPHR, based in Jacksonville, FL, is a non-partisan, multi-constituency, results-oriented effort to re-stabilize and improve American healthcare. Mr. Klepper was able to elegantly frame the major forces currently impacting the delivery and financing of healthcare. He also offered some thoughts on the shape of healthcare reforms to come. Mr. Klepper was most generous with his time, spending a great deal of it with students after the event and with several local healthcare leaders over breakfast the following morning. The Board believes that bringing this dynamic presenter to the local community helps fulfill its role of community service. The club covered all of Dr. Klepper’s travel expenses from Florida. He waived his speaking fee. The Board opened the event to the community and arranging for press coverage while he was in the Queen City. The club hopes to play some role in facilitating one of the fifty national healthcare roundtables that the Center for Practical Healthcare Reform is trying to organize across the nation.

In May 2003, the first dinner-speaker event featured the CEO, John Young, of Cleveland Regional Hospital. Mr. Young shared his experience and portions of a Board presentation on customer service. Mr. Young also touched on how setting a clear mission and vision had helped him oversee the successful merger of two hospitals. Judging from the comments of the 40+ people in attendance, the club had created a successful format, time, and location for the event.

In early April 2003, a wine tasting event was held in an effort to highlight the club’s revitalization and bring together local healthcare management folks. While the event targeted the upper and mid-level healthcare management, local graduate programs in health administration were also invited. The event acted as a venue where thoughts and ideas could be shared among colleagues from different organizations. Those in attendance were asked what a local healthcare executive group might look like and what services it should offer to its members. More then 450 invitations were sent, 92 folks responded that they would attend, and on the night of the event approximately 70 people were able to benefit from the interaction.