IDABEL, OK - On Tuesday, July 11, McCurtain Memorial Hospital elected two new members to the hospital's Medical Executive Committee ("MEC") and re-elected one. The committee will serve for two years with their terms ending June 30, 2025.
Elected was Dr. David Bishop as the new Chief of Staff, Dr. Michael Brown as Vice Chief of Staff, and Dr. Scott Griggory was re-elected as the Secretary.
Dr. Bishop has served at the hospital for a little over two years and has been the Emergency Room Medical Director for over a year. (Bottom middle)
Dr. Brown is the hospital's General surgeon and came on staff in May of this year. (Bottom left)
Dr. Griggory is a pediatrician in McCurtain County and was nominated to serve another term as the Secretary of the MEC.
On Tuesday night, the hospital hosted all area physicians and nurse practitioners at a dinner just before the elections. Not pictured here is former Chief of Staff, Dr. Monty Grugon.
At the event, I thanked each of the former members for their incredible service and challenged the new members to give a lot of thought into their bylaws which currently prevents nurse practitioners from serving on the MEC and voting for officers. I reminded the room just how valuable nurse practitioners are to rural areas and how valuable they have been to this hospital. The federal government designates certain rural hospitals as critical access hospitals (CAH's) and a key component is the use of physician assistants and nurse practitioners. McCurtain County is fortunate in that we have a number of practicing nurse practitioners in our area who are overseen by medical doctors.
For the first time in several years the MEC is made up largely of physicians who practice medicine at McCurtain Memorial Hospital. My sincere hope is that the number of men and women on the committee increases soon.