Jason Minchew, director of hospital operations for St. Luke’s Health-Memorial Livingston, provided the program for the Sept. 24 meeting of the Livingston Lions Club and brought two guests with him – Dr. Kenneth O’Neal and Madhav Mukundan, a third-year medical student.
Minchew started at the local hospital in August 2009 as an X-ray technician, then moved into emergency management, and then into administration.
Referring to the first hospital in Livingston – the 10-bed Bergman Hospital – Minchew said, “There’s been a lot of changes since then.”
As for what services are actually provided here, Minchew said, “Day to day, things seem to change.
“We are a level 4 trauma center. We provide rural healthcare and we service a very large area. Level 4 gives us the ability to keep you in a single system,” Minchew said.
“Even though we’re a rural facility, we saw 25,000 patients in the ER last year. We’re seeing a very high number of patients. Our level of visits has increased significantly since the closures of Trinity and Cleveland. We’re also seeing a higher level of acuity,” he said.
“It comes down to having really good partnerships. We work closely with EMS. We have an ICU and med surge. We also have a lot of our community doctors. We have a four-OR-suite surgery department. Our cardiology line is very robust. We have a really big presence in orthopedics, thanks to Dr. Shaw, Dr. Deloach and Dr. Xu,” Minchew said.
“It’s very difficult to get specializations. We try to promote work/life balance when we’re trying to recruit. We have a partnership with sister facilities. We’ve been working on several things. We’re adding a new general surgeon. We will also be moving forward with a wound care program,” he said.
Minchew also referred to “the amount of students we actually have here.
“LSCO (Lamar State College Orange) has come into this community and filled a big need, offering a number of programs from radiology to phlebotomy to vocational nursing. The number of students we have is very eye-opening,” he said.
As for future expansion of services, he said, “Cardiology is a big thing we’re looking at. We’ve needed an OB/GYN since Dr. Nellsch retired and were able to get Dr. Katlyn Croft, an FPOB (family practitioner/obstetrician) from Tarkington. I would love to have a cath lab here.
“There’s a lot that goes on into looking at this community and what this community needs. The tower is maybe 30% built out, with the vision of being able to expand. We went from a nine-bed, very cramped ER with trauma bed to a 10,000-square-foot, 19-bed ER with trauma bed that takes up the first floor of the tower,” Minchew said.
Next to speak was Dr. Kenneth O’Neal, who is originally from Chicago, though he was in Georgia for 17 years. “I call myself a half-breed – half Yankee, half Southerner.
“I’m always looking forward to coming to the hospital to see what’s new today. I see growth and expansion. Livingston is like a sleeping giant,” O’Neal said.
“Medicine is very interesting. It’s an ever-evolving process. It’s also a partnership. Medicine is very fascinating and I believe God’s hand is in it. We work better together. Medicine is ever-evolving as long as God is in it. God always knows the right answer,” O’Neal said.
“We do the best we can until we know better. Let’s be patient with one another was we move forward,” O’Neal said.
Specializing in internal medicine, O’Neal said he has been in Livingston since May 2024 and has no plans to move. “Til God moves me, I’m here.”
Next to speak was Madhav Mukundan, a third-year medical student who grew up in Chicago, moved to India, then moved to Plano, attended UT Dallas, then moved to Conroe.
“Some of the warmest people I’ve ever known are here in Livingston. I’m still learning. I get a lot of support. Thank you very much for that,” Mukundan said.
As for his experience in medical school, he said, “The first year was very tough … by divine grace, I was able to make it.”
“We have to have a humble attitude. We have to be open-minded, recognize other perspectives and have a humble attitude. I’m going to try to do the best I can for the people in front of me,” Mukundan said.
“I have seen so much. It’s been very impressive,” he said of his first month in Livingston, adding that he will be here the next three or four months. “I’m doing internal medicine now, then family medicine, then surgery rotation, then pediatrics.”
