Greenfield Resident Personifies Investment in AGMC Community

Pat Hays has several personal reasons to raise his voice in support of Adena Greenfield Medical Center, the most prominent being the fact he still has a voice to raise at all.

“The hospital here in Greenfield saved my life, not once, but twice,” the lifelong Greenfield resident and general manager of WVNU radio said. “I had a heart attack back in 2006 and they were able to stabilize me. Then, about three years ago, I had bilateral pulmonary edema and they saved my life again.

“If we didn’t have a hospital in Greenfield, I’d just hate to imagine how many lives would be lost.”

Hays certainly understands the importance of the hospital to Greenfield and its surrounding communities. His involvement with the original Greenfield Municipal Hospital goes back to the mid-1970s when, fresh out of college and newly married while starting his own business, he was asked to serve on the hospital’s board and a capital campaign committee to expand its facilities. Now, saying he’s feeling a little bit of déjà vu, he finds himself serving on the steering committee of a new capital campaign to construct AGMC’s new $3 million medical office building.

“I just think that aside from the school, one of the most important entities and organizations in this entire area is our hospital,” he said. “That’s for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the number of employees Adena has here in Greenfield, but also it is health care – and not just for Greenfield because AGMC hits not only Highland County, but Fayette County and parts of Ross County.”

The new 8,500-square-foot expansion, which will be attached to the main hospital and contain more space and better technology, will allow for new and enhanced service offerings.

Over the next five years, the new building is expected to drive patient growth, increase health care provider access for patients and allow for future growth within the hospital through the repurposing of space. Among some of the other benefits of the project are the placement of all hospital services under one roof, improved patient and family parking options, improved patient access to specialty care, a more efficient layout for patients that decreases wait times, to name just a few.

As the population of Greenfield and surrounding communities has grown and changed, so has its health care needs. Adena’s commitment to the area will provide specialists, which will not only help patients avoid long drives to get this care, but relieve primary care providers to take on additional patients.

Hays said he and his wife, Elaine, had a lifetime of reasons to offer their support.

“I’ve been in business in town for about 50 years,” he said. “Greenfield’s been very good to me, and my philosophy has always been to pay it forward, but now I’m trying to pay back. We believe so much in the mission of AGMC that we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.”

Health care is very personal for Hays. In addition to surviving his own life-threatening situations, his mother lived to be almost 97 years old, thanks in part to the hospital’s services. His father was a member of the hospital’s board before passing away in 1962 and he has five close family members working in health care, including a son who worked at AGMC while in nursing school, a daughter-in-law who is a current employee of Adena in Chillicothe and a brother who worked in the X-ray department at AGMC for almost 30 years. He also served 15 years on the board of HealthSource of Ohio.

He knows that health care is very personal for others as well. From the birth of their children to end of life care and everything in between, there may be nothing more personal for many people than the care that’s available to themselves and their loved ones. An investment in that care speaks to that need.

“That’s exactly what this is for the Greenfield community, an investment not only in the community, but in the community’s health,” Hays said. “As I said, I don’t think there’s anything more important, other than a school, than the health of this community, and Adena brought that to Greenfield when it added Greenfield Municipal Hospital to their health system.

“I don’t think the Greenfield hospital would be open were it not for the efforts of Adena, and that’s why I’m so enthused to help Adena with this new project for the hospital.”

You, too, can help with that investment. You can contact Rebekah Clevenger, Director of Development, Community for the Adena Health Foundation at rclevenger@adena.org or by phone at 740-637-3679.

Your support could become the difference in someone else’s life.

“I just think health care is so important,” Hays noted. “If it wasn’t for your health, what have you got?”