Lafayette hospital bids farewell to its own Good Samaritan

LAFAYETTE — As the first and only president of Good Samaritan Medical Center’s hospital, Dave Hamm is stepping out of the spotlight, March 31.  His retirement marks 39 years with SCL Health — 15 of those with Good Samaritan, 10 with Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver and 13 with St. Francis Health in Topeka, Kan.

Good Samaritan Medical Center is owned and managed by SCL Health — a $2.4 billion health network that includes 10 hospitals, more than 160 physician clinics, home health care, hospice and other health-care services in Colorado, Kansas and Montana.

In 2004, Good Samaritan Medical Center opened in Lafayette.  It now employs more than 1,600 clinical and non-clinical staff, includes 234 licensed beds, and serviced more than 100,000 outpatient visits in 2016.

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Hamm began his position as president and CEO in 2002 and provided leadership for the initial planning, construction and opening of the facility.

Hugh Brown, GSMC Foundation board member, has known Hamm since those early days.  Brown is a retired principal for Davis Partnership Architects.

“It all began with a conversation about entry courts and buildings surrounding them,” he said.  “We even put together some of the first donors.

“When the hospital was built, the only competition was in Boulder and a little in Louisville,” Brown added.  “Since then, a number of places have been built, but the community can remember that Good Samaritan was there first and is one of the largest full-service hospitals in the metro area.”

Hamm recalled the three years of planning in advance of selecting the site and working with the city of Lafayette.  “All projections said that this northwest corridor would be continually growing, so we designed it for that,” he said. “The positive thing about that was that it was supported by all.”

“The impact of the hospital has been the largest economic generator that Lafayette has ever seen,” said Vicki Trumbo, executive director of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce.  “We were fortunate that Good Samaritan picked Lafayette for the location — not only because of the number of employees and the hospital itself, but it also brought in Kaiser and associate office buildings.”

That economic impact has trickled down to boost other developments such as housing, Trumbo said.  “They will continue to be a leader in the Front Range in patient care and continue to be an economic force in Lafayette and along the 287 corridor.”

She referred to Hamm as the most understated person she’d ever met. “You’d never know he ran that kind of an operation — from getting the hospital built and keeping it flourishing.  He’s personable, easy to work with, confident, creative and has to wherewithal to run an organization like that.”

Her highest praise is that Hamm knows how to make things happen.  “And that’s filtered down to his employees — he set the tone for how the hospital is run.”

Brown echoes her accolades.  “He maintains a high-level staff that is striving to be a good as they can be in patient care.”

Under Hamm’s leadership, the hospital has experienced continuous growth since opening its doors and has expanded to a full range of patient services.  It has the potential to expand to 350 beds and fills 477,000 square feet on 77 acres.  Services include a cancer center, cardiovascular and adult critical care, labor and delivery, a trauma center, a center for integrative medicine, surgical, radiology, orthopedics, rehab and a 24-hour emergency department.

“Each is a puzzle piece so people can stay here rather than having to go elsewhere,” Hamm said.

In 2016, GSMC recorded the best financial performance in its history.

“Most of our not-for-profit hospitals are committed to serving the community regardless of a person’s ability to pay,” he said, adding that part of the hospital’s job is to be frugal to be able to continue providing that kind of care.

“There’ve been big changes since 2004 and the Affordable Care Act,” he explained.  Changes have affected how patients can pay and how employers, like the hospital, need to provide health-care coverage to employees.

“Over the last five or six years, there’ve been significant shifts from in-patient to outpatient for a lot of services.  With higher deductibles and co-pays, how people use health care has put pressure on us internally to reduce waste and take better care of people with shorter stays.”

Some things Hamm is leaving as seeds planted to grow beyond his tenure focus on increased attention to patient needs.

“It’s all related to how our world is becoming more instantaneous and how consumers of health care want us to respond differently,” he said.  “Young folks, for example, don’t know what being on-hold means — they use their phones differently.”

By differently, he means that people want to be in charge of what they do rather than waiting for someone else to do it.  “People want to schedule their own visits.

“We’re also working hard on a business plan that will help free up our operating room, which currently cares for both in- and out-patient.”  Building a separate surgery center would accelerate that mission.

“We’re looking at it right now but don’t have board approval yet,” he said.

In the meantime, Hamm plans to take a step back and enjoy retirement with his family.  He also plans to continue his involvement in nonprofits.  “I feel that I’m called to help people, and health care has been 40-plus years of my career.”

He’s already been given an application to volunteer at the hospital.