Tony Martinelli joins Mike Howard to discuss his path to pharmacy, improving Reynolds Memorial Hospital, his new duties overseeing Wetzel County Hospital, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:17):
Well, welcome back to CEOs. You should know I am
your host, Mike Howard, COO of the Wheeling Area Chamber
of Commerce. We are pleased to be the valley's promoter,
supporter sponsor of CEOs. You should know with our partners
at iHeartRadio Wheeling, along with sponsorship from our good friends
at West Banco all branches in the area. We have
(00:38):
great relationships there. We love the CEO Jeff Jackson, David
Click market manager, Amanda Brown and Sonny West and many
others at West Banco. We are pleased that they are
sponsors of CEOs. You should know our guest today Tony
Martinelli from WVU Medicine, Wheeling Hospital. But now Reynolds and
Tyler Wetzell. Correct? Did I get that right? Or Tyler?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
What's you?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Helped me out here?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So I have the pleasure of serving as CEO of
WV Medicine, Reynolds Memorial Hospital and Wetszell County Wetsell County.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
See we get in the chamber world it's Tyler Wetzell
and that messes me up. So my apology is there.
But okay, so what'sell? And you just took that over recently? Correct?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah? I have been at Reynolds since twenty twenty one
and recently just became CEO at Wetszell County Hospital August fifteenth.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Now we're going to go way back to childhood here
in a minute. But curious before twenty twenty one your status?
Where were you then before?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah? So I started working at Wheeling Hospital in two
thousand and nine.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So you were at Wheelings? Oh yeah, totally far good
two thousand and nine, great, okay, and what wow? How
did you progress through there?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So? I started in the organization as a pharmacy analyst
and worked in a department called informatics, which is kind
of taking the sound important. It's a big word. And
basically what we did was work with the electronic health
record and then work with the clinician teams and kind
of marry those two ideas, right, because if you're going
(02:10):
through you know, you're becoming a physician or a nurse,
a technician, a technologist. You know, working with the computer
is certainly part of that. But this team worked at
the hospital to take what you did on a daily
basis and give you more relevant information or make the
computer a little easier to work with.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Very good, all right, so grew up born, raised to
where would that be.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Right across the river? Grew up in Saint Clairsville, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Oh, not too far, okay, Saint Clair's Oh great.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I went to high school at Lindsley here and Wheelings
had a wonderful experience. Absolutely absolutely went to pharmacy school
at Duquane in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I know a lot of people that have done that, mainly.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So I could watch the Penguins play, which was great
right there in downtown downtown Pittsburgh. And then after pharmacy school,
came back to work in the area.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, people would say to me, Mike, did you go
to a fifth year of college because you changed major
so many times I'd say, well, academically yes, But in
that time, Jeff Hostel was at WVU and I wanted
another season of football, So yeah, Penguin fan.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Then, huh, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I got to learn that from my wife. And when
I worked up there near the old Hiatt right across
in the area, we had tickets and that was the
first time I'd been to a professional game, and Yoager
was a rookie and that was a lot of fun.
So I could see where that would be quite a
draw for you.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, that was great, It was great.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So when did you decide that pharmacy was kind of
going to be your thing?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So I didn't really decide pharmacy was going to be
my thing. I didn't really know what I wanted to
do in high school. And one day my dad popped
into my room and he had read an article that
you know, pharmacy was going to be a big growth area,
and he said, well, good news, You're going to pharmacy school.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So well that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. I didn't really have a better plan, so I thought,
all right, let's what that's roll with it?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well, I think he was a prophet. Your dad was
a prophet. What are you reading an article? And it
became quite big. So when you went to Doukane, then
how was that process? I mean, were you happy at
the beginning of that or did you think, oh, you
know what, I don't know if this is going to
be for me or not.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah. I enjoyed it the whole way, you know. Went in.
It was a lot of science, a lot of math,
things like that, which were topics that I was interested in.
So enjoyed the classes and went through. Then after I
got out realized that my attention span is not nearly
enough to be a pharmacist, and so then kind of
looked to expand that role and move into some other things.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, when did that realization hit you?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
We have about probably six hours into my first shift.
I thought, I don't know that I can pay attention
for twelve hours, you know, So started looking for some
other stuff, and you know, realized that wasn't being a
kind of a staff pharmacist wasn't gonna be a fit
for my attention span. So actually just sort of you know,
(04:54):
put it out to like our prayer group, like I
got to get something different, right, And then I'm searching
online and I I saw a pharmacy informatics job posted
at Wheeling Hospital and I thought, well, that's different. I
have no idea what that is, so it might be
something that's interesting. So I applied and then got that
job and spent probably five or six years doing that
(05:16):
and it was just an incredible experience. You know. The
team that was there was amazing. My boss at the
time was a guy Sean Loy. He still works for
WVU Medicine. Just an amazing boss to have, right, taught
all the things that you read about what makes a
good what makes a good boss, you know, taking care
of your team and building those relationships. You know, when
(05:39):
we got things right, he sent out an email saying,
you know, this person got this right when we did
something wrong, you know, he took the blame for that,
and that was a lesson that really stuck with me.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Oh that's great because we love to talk about that
on this show and get into the leader things. You
mentioned the prayer group thing. One of the funny stories
I had of that was in radio up in Pittsburgh.
I told my boss, we need to do a job fair.
Job fair as a wiki. The whole thing is becoming
Biggs Like, I don't know, Mike, I don't know. Well,
he was a part time pastor at the same time.
He came in one morning and he said, Hey, Howard,
we're gonna do your job fair. And I'm like, what happened?
(06:08):
He goes, We're in a prayer group last night, and
over half the prayers were for people with jobs. So
I've got something we need to do. What So it's
a great way to go right exactly? All right? Well,
so two thousand and nine, here at Wheeling Hospital, I
guess when did the transfer you begin to really rise
into the to the whole CEO thing and how what
was your mindset through that?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, so it was probably twenty thirteen twenty fourteen. The
pharmacy had undergone some leadership changes and they were searching
for for somebody to be the director a pharmacy and
kind of head that up. And I think they sort
of went to me by default, right, They said, will
you take this over as interim for six months? I said, sure,
(06:49):
you know, happy to do whatever the do, whatever the
hospital needs, and uh, I must done decent job in
six months. So they kind of left me at that
and then and you know, as I kind of led
the pharmacy, then other ancillary departments kind of started to
fall under that, so you know, the lab and radiology,
resptory therapy because sort of those ancillary departments that support
(07:13):
the doctors and nurses up on the floors in that
So that's kind of a standard maybe trajectory for folks,
right that that's kind of something that makes sense. And
then would have been around two thy eighteen. I moved out,
kept that job and then at the time the hospital
had bought Harrison Community Hospital.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Out in katas So I went out there to kind
of head that up for a couple of years, which
was really fun. The road out, the road from Wheeling
to there is a little rough, but enjoyed that immensely,
you know, learning kind of hospital outside of just the
ancillary departments right, working with the physicians and the nursing staff,
(07:56):
the board of directors, and that was just a really
the time that I learned a lot in my career.
And then wen W Medicine purchased Wheeling Hospital. I went
down to Reynolds to be the chief operating officer there.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Okay, well it's funny. We had a couple similar stories
in that lined up. You may not know. I was
the original sales manager in nineteen ninety three at the
Howard Long Wellness Center. I was the second guy hired
and they called me up and they said, well, you've
got the sales job, but we wanted to talk to
you about the sales manager job. And I'm like, they said,
why didn't you apply for that? I was like, well,
I've never done it before yet, so I just wanted
(08:32):
to break in and see if I can get in.
So they hired me for that, but I then found
out later they had like four other people that declined
the job, so by default I ended up being the
sales manager. And I actually enjoyed sales management. It's a
lot of fun. It's gotten me more into this whole
leadership aspect of what we like to do at the Chamber,
and really why I think we enjoy hosting this show
so we can get in to that realm of things
(08:54):
before we do, though, tell us about your family.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, so a beautiful wife, Michelle toonderful kids, Victorian math.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Two so far.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, that's coming from a guy with nine totals, So
I can tease you a little. Yeah, six and three blended.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Family, wonderful, wonderful, but.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Two's a good number. Always said keep it even, two, four, six.
Now we have nine, but we only have one left
in high school, so almost almost done.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Wonderful And that's been you know, having them has just
been fantastic. Victorious two and a half, Madison six months old, so.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
We're, oh my gosh, you got them way young.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, having fun, you know, singing Disney songs every day, and.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Now you're making me feel old. I have two grandkids
that are about two years old each boy and a
girl and they're great. They're great. So got to ask
you the question. And with two young kids and the
CEO status and now over two hospitals, how you work
in the work life balance? If we use that phrase,
some people don't like it, but I just do it
because it's simple.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, you know, I think it's it's really about having
having a great support structure around you. You know, I
spend a lot of work, a lot of time at work,
so you know, it means that Michelle spends a lot
of times with the kids and then in the evenings
making sure that you know, we kind of turn cell
phones off for a little bit, right, You have a
lot of time at worked to you know, to spend
(10:12):
doing emails and having meetings, and so every night come home,
we have dinner and then you know, we turn the
cell phones off and we take a walk at Ogilby
for a couple of hours and just you know, let
the kids run around, spend time together and that really recharges.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's great advice along, it's great advice. So take that people.
That's why we do this show so you can hear
with what successful people are doing and how they keep
it real. Right, absolutely, Yeah, So describe then the CEO
job at Reynolds First, what were some of the challenges
some things you had to face. How did that go?
And then we'll take a look at Wetzel.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Absolutely so the story of Reynold's Memorial Hospital under WV Medicine.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I've been there a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
It's it's awesome, wonderful, wonderful, and it's just an incredible
story and it's one that you know, we should be
telling as a real success story about a rural hospital
that was, you know, in a little bit of rough
shape and the change of trajectory has been staggering. I
mean the vision from the WU Medicine Board and our CEO,
(11:15):
Albert Right, to take on that hospital and really transform it.
And then you know, doctor Hess who was the CEO
and then Doug Harrison before me, really have made a
change in that community. You look at you know, the
services you talk about doubling jobs and you know, wages
up in a lot of areas fifty percent people you
know coming into the building and really being able to
(11:37):
make an impact in that community is fantastic. You know,
when I went down there was kind of in the
middle of COVID and that was, you know, a challenging
time in healthcare, and so you know, with with bed
capacity and making sure that we find nurses and doctors
to treat our patients, have enough support staff to get
those patients taken care of. And it was really a
(11:59):
unique time in health care, one that.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I hope we don't repeat, but amen, you know, very.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Challenging, but I think really shaped me through that experience
and understanding because things changed very rapidly, right, recommendations for
testing or treatment or you know, what we were doing
just changed very rapidly. And so having a team around you,
and a team that trusted each other, that wasn't afraid
(12:24):
to take a risk, and you know, was willing to
come together and work on a hard issue, you know,
have different ideas about how we were going to solve
a problem, you know, and then at the end of
that meeting leave and be able to execute on that
kind of with one voice. And it really shaped kind
of my leadership style and how I approach things nice.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So, what would you say is kind of the shining
star or program or department that you're you're most proud
of one or two that are that are going on
at Reynolds right now.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I mean, there's a lot the kind of the current
thing that I'm tremendously proud of is the our renovation
that we're going through down there. This is you know,
going to be in the twenty million dollar range, and
it really is going to set up the hospital, you
know for the next fifty years. And as we make
new oh our rooms and you know, refresh things, we're
(13:13):
just going and fixing a lot of the building, which
is tremendously exciting. It's really exciting. It's very fulfilling to
be able to take care of people and care for
them as patients. But it's also really exciting to know
that over the next fifty years there's going to be
a hospital there and healthcare being provided to that community
because of some of the great work that the team's
(13:35):
doing right now.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And i'd imagine the reach is probably what clear down
to Cameron and beyond maybe over into a lot of
rural communities. Absolutely the need that everybody needs that kind
of care, but not everybody gets.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It, absolutely, you know, and working to get those those
clinical resources into rural communities so that it's easier for
people to have access to care. Right you know, if
you can't get a ride, you can get a ride
to into Cameraon or you know, one of these other
small communities where if we have a resource there that
(14:05):
can help get you care, you're more likely to get healthcare.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So tell us about the day when you when you
heard that you were tapped then for for Wetzel.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, so you know they, Uh, Doug Harrison are the
CEO at Wheeling, another just great guy and mentor of mine.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
He had a nice chat with him the other night, wonderful.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, and you know called me in and asked if
I would kind of expand my role down there, and
you know, I was thrilled to thrill to be a
part of that.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
What do you see now down there are what are
the things you're hoping to do, the challenges or the
already good things that are there. Tell us a little
give us a little peek into Wetzel.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, absolutely so. Wetsseel's another great community hospital, really meeting
the needs of the community down there. Obviously, in in
rural hospitals, what you need are more clinicians, and so
how can we work to get more physicians, you know,
into Wetzel County and the reality of rural healthcare is
sometimes that community can't support a full physician, it can't
(15:08):
support a full specialist. So how can we recruit somebody
to our region, you know, and then have them a
day a week or two days a week down there.
So that's easy for folks in Wetszell County to get
access to care. But it's also in a model that
you know, it keeps that physician busy across our region.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, those are some of the things I think a
lot of us still sit around and think about, especially
for a rural hospital, how that's got how that's got
to function and work. So what are some of the
projections for there? What what are you hoping to grow
or improve or change or make new.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, so kind of keeping on the you know, access
to care, we want to really recruit some specialists to
the area, you know, in endochronology and gastroineurology and oncology
to make it so that those folks don't have to
travel to get those sources.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think it's the same thing even more further south,
but it's still very rural almost in every direction and
there except maybe up north, I suppose, but even doubt
you're talking all the way down to Marriett or Parkersburg
before you're at a larger a larger town.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Absolutely very crucial there. So let's see. So in Reynolds
and Whatsol, what do you think's next? I'm looking at
having you look in your Crystal Ball Tony to tell
us what. Just more work on those two facilities, I
would imagine.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah, just making sure that you know, we keep building
up the services at those and again always keeping an
eye on what's this going to look like in thirty
or forty years and making sure that there is you know,
care in those communities. If you look at the studies
of rural hospitals across the country, it's kind of a
bleak picture post COVID in terms of, you know, a
(16:45):
lot of hospitals shutting down, a lot of hospitals, you know,
really cutting back on services. And so that's really kind
of what we're focused on, is making sure that the
sustainability of those hospitals moving forward. And the team's done
an incredible job and the future both of those facilities
is very bright.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Well hopefully I speak for most of the valley and
saying we appreciate that outlook because we have loved ones
and others and friends and people we know that need that.
Mike's curious question because I like to ask sometimes things
that just hit me while we're in the middle of
the show. How will the new cancer research center that's
going to happen in South Wheeling effect or be partnered
(17:22):
with let's say your two hospitals. Will there be some
connections there? How's that going to work?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah? Absolutely. The The idea for that is that you know,
that will be really the regional hub of cancer care,
you know, an incredible expansion of clinical trials and really
making sure.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
That's oh good.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, people need care you know in our area that
they don't have to travel outside of of the area.
And you know, you're not having to go to Pittsburgh
or Cleveland. You're able to stay here, be close to
loved ones and your support structures you're going through cancer treatment.
Then you know, we'll look and see, you know, will
(18:02):
there be like some supportive medications or fluids or things
like that that you'll still get at you at your
local hospital. A lot of discussions around that, but I
think that is really going to change cancer care in
our area.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well, I love telling my story and I'll do it
very briefly though, because it was one of those things
when I found out I had pancreatic cancer, and though
while none of them are that aggressive, I had one
of the more aggressive ones under the non aggressive pancreatic
care or not pancreatic prostate cancer. My wife had that, unfortunately.
But the care was amazing, and I mean when I
went into it, the mindset was We're definitely going to
(18:34):
Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion. That never happened. Tony
wonderful by the time we dealt with the folks here
at WU and then went down there and met with
Ali Hajeron, I think, a two thousand and four graduate
of Wheeling Central High School where all half my more
than half my kids graduated. That was so impressive. And
then everywhere you went down there they said, oh, doctor
Hadra the oncology to you can't get an I was like,
(18:55):
I look at my wife. I said, do we need
to go to Cleveland? She said no, We're going to
stay right here. And it was fabulous, And the aftercare
has been great, with all the oncologists and the people
and the counseling and all the things you have to
deal with with prostate stuff. It's been great. I mean,
I'm like one of those, you know, standing testimonials for
for WVU medicine.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
That's outstanding. And that's the goal, right is to make
sure that you can get treatment.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Right here right so it didn't have to drive all
that far away. We're talking with Tony Martinelli. He is
the CEO of both Reynolds Morey, a hospital under the
WVU Medicine flag, and Wetzel down in New Martinsville. Let's
shift a gear for a second. I mean, I love
talking about leadership. It's probably my favorite thing to talk about.
And You've brought it up a couple of times. I'd
be curious. You mentioned one boss that you had, What
(19:39):
others or even someone without naming that us Like, I
never want to be like that guy or that gual
And I've got a couple of those in my life.
I was like, never, whatever I do, I don't ever
want to be like that. But what other experiences, even family, professors,
whatever it is that have kind of molded you and
helped you get to where you are?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah? Absolutely, you know, I think that started off off
when I was young. I think I was in the
sixth grade when my parents started their own business, and
so watching them go through that process was exciting, right,
And you know, they'd come home and my dad would
always show me the financials and you know, we'd kind
of run through that and he taught me a lot
of those business concepts, which was great.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It was wonderful, you know. And then this being the
Ohio Valley, we love sports, right, and so I had
some wonderful coaches, and I think sports are such a
valuable tool for learning how to be part of a
team and a leader.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
What was your sport?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So? I played soccer, I ran track, I wrestled.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Wrestled all right, I love the wrestlers. That was me
six years Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Coached Gyuvingo, who was a physical therapy assistant or is
it at Wheeling Hospital. He was my high school wrestling coach.
I was got a little nervous when I was in
the basement. I ran past him because I didn't want
him to run me through drills or anything.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It's a different mindset and wrestling, I tell you, it
is just an incredible sport that I always encourage parents,
especially if your kidney's a little discipline that will teach
it to.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
You absolutely, you know, and you just learn, right, you
can't always score the touchdown or score the goal. Sometimes
it's your job to block. Sometimes it's your job to
you know, pass, sometimes your job to play defense. And
so I think that's really for me, was critical to
understand how to be part of an organization and be
part of a team, you know. Moving on, I mentioned
(21:19):
Sean who is a great boss. And then you know
the CEO of W Medicine, Doug Harrison. I've worked for
him for about five six years now. Just an incredible
person and you know, really lives a lot of the
concepts that you read about in a book, right, how
to build a team, How to you know, care about
that team, not just in what they can do at work. Right, understand,
(21:40):
you know, what are their kids' names, you know what's
their spouse's name, do they have dogs, what are the
interests that they have? And then build those relationships and
you end up building a much more cohesive team that
makes it easier to win, right because you have that
strong team around you. And so I've been very lucky
to have some great influences in my life.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So in the last number of years that I've been
studying leadership the one word that comes up. And now
I'm in the middle of a book by Mark Miller,
who was a he's retired from Chick fil A, but
he was a high up VP and training and his
book Culture Rules, has just speaks to it all. And
it sounds to me like that's what's happening with WVU Medicine,
is there is a culture there. I mean, we went
down not that long ago because one of the members
(22:22):
of our chambers, four year old had a bell ringing.
I'd never been to a bell ringing before. That was
unbelievable to see and just be there and see your
team of all the people there that were working together.
It's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, and culture is so important right in any organization.
But that's how the new folks in the organization kind
of learned the expectations and how we treat patients and
how we treat each other. You know, we've walked through
a new initiative over the last couple of years talking
about the standards of behavior and what are those things
(22:56):
that we want to model, you know, we want our
staff to model and it you know from the very
complex you know, competency in whatever field that you know,
you're practicing in and very technical to making sure that
you say hi in the hallways right, that you you know,
are greeting people. And that's so important, you know, having
(23:16):
young kids, you know, they have a bump, they have
a scrape, and all of a sudden, you know you've
got to take them to the emergency room and you
go from at least I go from hospital administrator to
dad very quickly, right, And so it's fun to see
some of those things that we talk about in meetings
modeled in the staff, and you know, that kindness and
the just that concern that they show. How much more
(23:38):
at ease that puts me as a father when I
have a kid who you know isn't feeling well and
you know, you just want them taken care of, and
and that care is sometimes more important than oh, yeah,
you know the other stuff that's going on.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So it's challenging to me for what you all are in.
And I'm married to a cardiology nurse, not in facility
now she's a case manager, but just having to not
only still like a restaurant, you know, have customer service
and all that type of thing, but typically in the restaurant,
no one's facing bad news of potential death or camp
or whatever, or in an emergency situation, and you've got
(24:13):
to take all that into account with what you're doing
in the compassion that's needed that sometimes someone just needs
a hug, you know. And now we're I think we're
past COVID enough. Now we can hug again. But talk
to us a little about how that what challenge that brings,
especially in the leadership role in the HR folks, I
can't even imagine what they're going through trying to think, well,
we need the skills, we need the character, we need
(24:34):
the compassion. The list seems endless.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, you know, I rode out something a couple of
years ago and we call it not so Undercover Boss,
where I'll go and work in a department for a
day and we have a great time. But I am
blown away every time that I go and work in
a department just how much care that our team puts
into their patients. And you know, I think we talked
(24:58):
about this a little earlier, making sure that you have
a way to take care of yourself after the day
of work. And that's not just for executives, that's for
everyone that works in healthcare. Because it's it can be
an emotionally draining job. If you're doing you know that
that compassion and that care can take it out of
you after you know, a twelve or fourteen hour shift,
(25:18):
and so making sure that you're going home and taking
care of yourself however that looks, if that's a walk,
if that's you know, meditation, getting to the gym, whatever
that looks like. Just making sure that the team takes
that time for themselves.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I'm curious to ask you because again we're coming up
on a big election coming up, and there's a lot
of talk about health care and where that's going to go,
will it be nationalized or not. What are the discussions
you all are having within WVU Medicine about, maybe even
not so much the political landscape but the financial landscape
and where things are going to go with conglomerations and
all that. Where do you see healthcare going for folks?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, you know, healthcare is an incredibly complex, you know
system with payment model and quality initiatives, and so I think,
you know, what I really focus on is making sure
that we have a great team at the local level.
We have wonderful physicians and nurses and that staff and
then whatever happens. You know, at a national level, we
(26:17):
have that team in place that can provide outstanding care.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, and you have to just kind of and move
and juke with the with the policies and things that come.
People got to be adaptable, absolutely, Yeah, And we talk
about a lot. It seems like more and more as
time's going on, insurance seems to be dictating who you
can see or what you can do. I mean the
days of the house physician if we want to call
(26:41):
them that, the one that drop by your house, the
house calls or whatever. The relationships are getting tougher between
patient and doctor because of all the things that are happening.
Where do you see that going or what might we
be able to do to help keep a little more
of that cohesiveness between patient and doctor or nurse or whatever.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, complicated question to kind of sure, you know, answer
in a.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
A in a short podcast, Yeah, in a.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Short podcast and you know, timeframe. But I kind of
still fall back on, you know, if we have really
great clinicians here in our area, we're going to be
able to adapt to whatever the future of healthcare looks like.
And so that's kind of what what I focus on
is making sure that those we have outstanding staff in
(27:28):
place so that we can meet whatever challenge comes up. Well.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And it's funny as we hear news or you just
talk to people around in the recruiting that WVU is
doing here for all the hospitals in this region, sounds
like it's it's doing really well. What do you think
it is that might attract someone from a we won't
use names, but it's a big city hospital to come here.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, boy, it's it's the whole gambit, right. Certainly the
WVU Medicine flag carry some weight.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
With it that has just grown immensely.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Absolutely, and people want to be a part of that,
and that's not you know, I think technologists, technicians want
to be a part of that. I think nurses want
to be a part of that, and I think physicians
want to want to be a part of that. You know,
we get wonderful support, you know, from our partners across
the health system, and you know, then then it increases
our ability to recruit those physicians because they're coming to
(28:20):
a great organization and they want to be a part
of that. And then it's about taking care of them
once they once they get here right, making sure that
we're meeting with those physicians, hearing what's important to them.
You know, really great initiatives come from people who are
passionate about something and so understanding, you know, medicine is
a very broad field. And talking to each physician and
(28:42):
finding out what are the things that got you into
medicine and what are the things that you know get
you up in the morning, and then how can we
support that, and then you know, let you drive wonderful
initiatives that you're excited about and passionate about.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
That's great. I love hearing that philosophy. My one last
question I usually ask everybody that comes in here, and
I get different answers, and some might say, well, there
wasn't really one, just this overall shaping. Has there been
kind of a challenge or a tough situation you've had
to get through that helped mold you or even like say,
affected your leadership down the road that you'd say, Okay,
I know I learned a great deal from that and
(29:17):
that won't happen again, or you know, just got you
on a different directory. Is there any kind of challenge
that you can recall like that or a combination?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, so I don't recall a specific challenge. What I
do recall is is the shift between as you sort
of go up in your career, at some point you
working harder is no longer the answer. Right. There are
more things in the to do box than you can
do than one person can do. And you know, as
you're growing up, if you want to get a better grade,
(29:48):
you study harder. If you want to do better on
the athletic field, you practice more, and a lot of
those are things that you can do right. But at
some point you have to work more on building the
team around you because ultimately, if you want to be successful,
you have to have that great team because you won't
be able to as one person. Just work harder, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I think that is a great answer to conclude the podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
On Tony wonderful, Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Thank you you've been listening to CEOs. You should know.
I'm your host, Mike Howard, Chief Operating Officer of the
Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. We are pleased to be
the sponsor of CEOs. Used to know with our partner
iHeartRadio here and Willing, our guest has been Tony Martinelli,
CEO of Reynolds Memorial and We'sbell County Hospitals under that
WVU Medicine flag. As you say, I like that that
(30:36):
blue and gold. Maybe a little more blue from what
I've seen on the logos. But thank you so much
for being here sharing your insight in your life with us.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Awesome. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
We'll see you next time on CEOs. You should know
Well, welcome back to CEOs. You should know I am
your host, Mike Howard, COO of the Wheeling Area Chamber
of Commerce. We are pleased to be the valley's promoter,
supporter sponsor of CEOs. You should know with our partners
at iHeartRadio Wheeling, along with sponsorship from our good friends
at West Banco all branches in the area. We have
(00:38):
great relationships there. We love the CEO Jeff Jackson, David
Click market manager, Amanda Brown and Sonny West and many
others at West Banco. We are pleased that they are
sponsors of CEOs. You should know our guest today Tony
Martinelli from WVU Medicine, Wheeling Hospital. But now Reynolds and
Tyler Wetzell. Correct? Did I get that right? Or Tyler?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
What's you?
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Helped me out here?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So I have the pleasure of serving as CEO of
WV Medicine, Reynolds Memorial Hospital and Wetszell County Wetsell County.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
See we get in the chamber world it's Tyler Wetzell
and that messes me up. So my apology is there.
But okay, so what'sell? And you just took that over recently? Correct?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah? I have been at Reynolds since twenty twenty one
and recently just became CEO at Wetszell County Hospital August fifteenth.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Now we're going to go way back to childhood here
in a minute. But curious before twenty twenty one your status?
Where were you then before?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah? So I started working at Wheeling Hospital in two
thousand and nine.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So you were at Wheelings? Oh yeah, totally far good
two thousand and nine, great, okay, and what wow? How
did you progress through there?
Speaker 2 (01:48):
So? I started in the organization as a pharmacy analyst
and worked in a department called informatics, which is kind
of taking the sound important. It's a big word. And
basically what we did was work with the electronic health
record and then work with the clinician teams and kind
of marry those two ideas, right, because if you're going
(02:10):
through you know, you're becoming a physician or a nurse,
a technician, a technologist. You know, working with the computer
is certainly part of that. But this team worked at
the hospital to take what you did on a daily
basis and give you more relevant information or make the
computer a little easier to work with.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Very good, all right, so grew up born, raised to
where would that be.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Right across the river? Grew up in Saint Clairsville, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Oh, not too far, okay, Saint Clair's Oh great.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I went to high school at Lindsley here and Wheelings
had a wonderful experience. Absolutely absolutely went to pharmacy school
at Duquane in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I know a lot of people that have done that, mainly.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
So I could watch the Penguins play, which was great
right there in downtown downtown Pittsburgh. And then after pharmacy school,
came back to work in the area.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Well, people would say to me, Mike, did you go
to a fifth year of college because you changed major
so many times I'd say, well, academically yes, But in
that time, Jeff Hostel was at WVU and I wanted
another season of football, So yeah, Penguin fan.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Then, huh, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I got to learn that from my wife. And when
I worked up there near the old Hiatt right across
in the area, we had tickets and that was the
first time I'd been to a professional game, and Yoager
was a rookie and that was a lot of fun.
So I could see where that would be quite a
draw for you.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, that was great, It was great.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
So when did you decide that pharmacy was kind of
going to be your thing?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
So I didn't really decide pharmacy was going to be
my thing. I didn't really know what I wanted to
do in high school. And one day my dad popped
into my room and he had read an article that
you know, pharmacy was going to be a big growth area,
and he said, well, good news, You're going to pharmacy school.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
So well that's interesting.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. I didn't really have a better plan, so I thought,
all right, let's what that's roll with it?
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Well, I think he was a prophet. Your dad was
a prophet. What are you reading an article? And it
became quite big. So when you went to Doukane, then
how was that process? I mean, were you happy at
the beginning of that or did you think, oh, you
know what, I don't know if this is going to
be for me or not.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah. I enjoyed it the whole way, you know. Went in.
It was a lot of science, a lot of math,
things like that, which were topics that I was interested in.
So enjoyed the classes and went through. Then after I
got out realized that my attention span is not nearly
enough to be a pharmacist, and so then kind of
looked to expand that role and move into some other things.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, when did that realization hit you?
Speaker 2 (04:34):
We have about probably six hours into my first shift.
I thought, I don't know that I can pay attention
for twelve hours, you know, So started looking for some
other stuff, and you know, realized that wasn't being a
kind of a staff pharmacist wasn't gonna be a fit
for my attention span. So actually just sort of you know,
(04:54):
put it out to like our prayer group, like I
got to get something different, right, And then I'm searching
online and I I saw a pharmacy informatics job posted
at Wheeling Hospital and I thought, well, that's different. I
have no idea what that is, so it might be
something that's interesting. So I applied and then got that
job and spent probably five or six years doing that
(05:16):
and it was just an incredible experience. You know. The
team that was there was amazing. My boss at the
time was a guy Sean Loy. He still works for
WVU Medicine. Just an amazing boss to have, right, taught
all the things that you read about what makes a
good what makes a good boss, you know, taking care
of your team and building those relationships. You know, when
(05:39):
we got things right, he sent out an email saying,
you know, this person got this right when we did
something wrong, you know, he took the blame for that,
and that was a lesson that really stuck with me.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Oh that's great because we love to talk about that
on this show and get into the leader things. You
mentioned the prayer group thing. One of the funny stories
I had of that was in radio up in Pittsburgh.
I told my boss, we need to do a job fair.
Job fair as a wiki. The whole thing is becoming
Biggs Like, I don't know, Mike, I don't know. Well,
he was a part time pastor at the same time.
He came in one morning and he said, Hey, Howard,
we're gonna do your job fair. And I'm like, what happened?
(06:08):
He goes, We're in a prayer group last night, and
over half the prayers were for people with jobs. So
I've got something we need to do. What So it's
a great way to go right exactly? All right? Well,
so two thousand and nine, here at Wheeling Hospital, I
guess when did the transfer you begin to really rise
into the to the whole CEO thing and how what
was your mindset through that?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, so it was probably twenty thirteen twenty fourteen. The
pharmacy had undergone some leadership changes and they were searching
for for somebody to be the director a pharmacy and
kind of head that up. And I think they sort
of went to me by default, right, They said, will
you take this over as interim for six months? I said, sure,
(06:49):
you know, happy to do whatever the do, whatever the
hospital needs, and uh, I must done decent job in
six months. So they kind of left me at that
and then and you know, as I kind of led
the pharmacy, then other ancillary departments kind of started to
fall under that, so you know, the lab and radiology,
resptory therapy because sort of those ancillary departments that support
(07:13):
the doctors and nurses up on the floors in that
So that's kind of a standard maybe trajectory for folks,
right that that's kind of something that makes sense. And
then would have been around two thy eighteen. I moved out,
kept that job and then at the time the hospital
had bought Harrison Community Hospital.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Out in katas So I went out there to kind
of head that up for a couple of years, which
was really fun. The road out, the road from Wheeling
to there is a little rough, but enjoyed that immensely,
you know, learning kind of hospital outside of just the
ancillary departments right, working with the physicians and the nursing staff,
(07:56):
the board of directors, and that was just a really
the time that I learned a lot in my career.
And then wen W Medicine purchased Wheeling Hospital. I went
down to Reynolds to be the chief operating officer there.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Okay, well it's funny. We had a couple similar stories
in that lined up. You may not know. I was
the original sales manager in nineteen ninety three at the
Howard Long Wellness Center. I was the second guy hired
and they called me up and they said, well, you've
got the sales job, but we wanted to talk to
you about the sales manager job. And I'm like, they said,
why didn't you apply for that? I was like, well,
I've never done it before yet, so I just wanted
(08:32):
to break in and see if I can get in.
So they hired me for that, but I then found
out later they had like four other people that declined
the job, so by default I ended up being the
sales manager. And I actually enjoyed sales management. It's a
lot of fun. It's gotten me more into this whole
leadership aspect of what we like to do at the Chamber,
and really why I think we enjoy hosting this show
so we can get in to that realm of things
(08:54):
before we do, though, tell us about your family.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, so a beautiful wife, Michelle toonderful kids, Victorian math.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Two so far.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Huh.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, that's coming from a guy with nine totals, So
I can tease you a little. Yeah, six and three blended.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Family, wonderful, wonderful, but.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Two's a good number. Always said keep it even, two, four, six.
Now we have nine, but we only have one left
in high school, so almost almost done.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Wonderful And that's been you know, having them has just
been fantastic. Victorious two and a half, Madison six months old, so.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
We're, oh my gosh, you got them way young.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yeah, having fun, you know, singing Disney songs every day, and.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Now you're making me feel old. I have two grandkids
that are about two years old each boy and a
girl and they're great. They're great. So got to ask
you the question. And with two young kids and the
CEO status and now over two hospitals, how you work
in the work life balance? If we use that phrase,
some people don't like it, but I just do it
because it's simple.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah, you know, I think it's it's really about having
having a great support structure around you. You know, I
spend a lot of work, a lot of time at work,
so you know, it means that Michelle spends a lot
of times with the kids and then in the evenings
making sure that you know, we kind of turn cell
phones off for a little bit, right, You have a
lot of time at worked to you know, to spend
(10:12):
doing emails and having meetings, and so every night come home,
we have dinner and then you know, we turn the
cell phones off and we take a walk at Ogilby
for a couple of hours and just you know, let
the kids run around, spend time together and that really recharges.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
That's great advice along, it's great advice. So take that people.
That's why we do this show so you can hear
with what successful people are doing and how they keep
it real. Right, absolutely, Yeah, So describe then the CEO
job at Reynolds First, what were some of the challenges
some things you had to face. How did that go?
And then we'll take a look at Wetzel.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Absolutely so the story of Reynold's Memorial Hospital under WV Medicine.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
I've been there a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
It's it's awesome, wonderful, wonderful, and it's just an incredible
story and it's one that you know, we should be
telling as a real success story about a rural hospital
that was, you know, in a little bit of rough
shape and the change of trajectory has been staggering. I
mean the vision from the WU Medicine Board and our CEO,
(11:15):
Albert Right, to take on that hospital and really transform it.
And then you know, doctor Hess who was the CEO
and then Doug Harrison before me, really have made a
change in that community. You look at you know, the
services you talk about doubling jobs and you know, wages
up in a lot of areas fifty percent people you
know coming into the building and really being able to
(11:37):
make an impact in that community is fantastic. You know,
when I went down there was kind of in the
middle of COVID and that was, you know, a challenging
time in healthcare, and so you know, with with bed
capacity and making sure that we find nurses and doctors
to treat our patients, have enough support staff to get
those patients taken care of. And it was really a
(11:59):
unique time in health care, one that.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
I hope we don't repeat, but amen, you know, very.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Challenging, but I think really shaped me through that experience
and understanding because things changed very rapidly, right, recommendations for
testing or treatment or you know, what we were doing
just changed very rapidly. And so having a team around you,
and a team that trusted each other, that wasn't afraid
(12:24):
to take a risk, and you know, was willing to
come together and work on a hard issue, you know,
have different ideas about how we were going to solve
a problem, you know, and then at the end of
that meeting leave and be able to execute on that
kind of with one voice. And it really shaped kind
of my leadership style and how I approach things nice.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
So, what would you say is kind of the shining
star or program or department that you're you're most proud
of one or two that are that are going on
at Reynolds right now.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
I mean, there's a lot the kind of the current
thing that I'm tremendously proud of is the our renovation
that we're going through down there. This is you know,
going to be in the twenty million dollar range, and
it really is going to set up the hospital, you
know for the next fifty years. And as we make
new oh our rooms and you know, refresh things, we're
(13:13):
just going and fixing a lot of the building, which
is tremendously exciting. It's really exciting. It's very fulfilling to
be able to take care of people and care for
them as patients. But it's also really exciting to know
that over the next fifty years there's going to be
a hospital there and healthcare being provided to that community
because of some of the great work that the team's
(13:35):
doing right now.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
And i'd imagine the reach is probably what clear down
to Cameron and beyond maybe over into a lot of
rural communities. Absolutely the need that everybody needs that kind
of care, but not everybody gets.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It, absolutely, you know, and working to get those those
clinical resources into rural communities so that it's easier for
people to have access to care. Right you know, if
you can't get a ride, you can get a ride
to into Cameraon or you know, one of these other
small communities where if we have a resource there that
(14:05):
can help get you care, you're more likely to get healthcare.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So tell us about the day when you when you
heard that you were tapped then for for Wetzel.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, so you know they, Uh, Doug Harrison are the
CEO at Wheeling, another just great guy and mentor of mine.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
He had a nice chat with him the other night, wonderful.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, and you know called me in and asked if
I would kind of expand my role down there, and
you know, I was thrilled to thrill to be a
part of that.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
What do you see now down there are what are
the things you're hoping to do, the challenges or the
already good things that are there. Tell us a little
give us a little peek into Wetzel.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, absolutely so. Wetsseel's another great community hospital, really meeting
the needs of the community down there. Obviously, in in
rural hospitals, what you need are more clinicians, and so
how can we work to get more physicians, you know,
into Wetzel County and the reality of rural healthcare is
sometimes that community can't support a full physician, it can't
(15:08):
support a full specialist. So how can we recruit somebody
to our region, you know, and then have them a
day a week or two days a week down there.
So that's easy for folks in Wetszell County to get
access to care. But it's also in a model that
you know, it keeps that physician busy across our region.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Yeah, those are some of the things I think a
lot of us still sit around and think about, especially
for a rural hospital, how that's got how that's got
to function and work. So what are some of the
projections for there? What what are you hoping to grow
or improve or change or make new.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, so kind of keeping on the you know, access
to care, we want to really recruit some specialists to
the area, you know, in endochronology and gastroineurology and oncology
to make it so that those folks don't have to
travel to get those sources.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I think it's the same thing even more further south,
but it's still very rural almost in every direction and
there except maybe up north, I suppose, but even doubt
you're talking all the way down to Marriett or Parkersburg
before you're at a larger a larger town.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Absolutely very crucial there. So let's see. So in Reynolds
and Whatsol, what do you think's next? I'm looking at
having you look in your Crystal Ball Tony to tell
us what. Just more work on those two facilities, I
would imagine.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah, just making sure that you know, we keep building
up the services at those and again always keeping an
eye on what's this going to look like in thirty
or forty years and making sure that there is you know,
care in those communities. If you look at the studies
of rural hospitals across the country, it's kind of a
bleak picture post COVID in terms of, you know, a
(16:45):
lot of hospitals shutting down, a lot of hospitals, you know,
really cutting back on services. And so that's really kind
of what we're focused on, is making sure that the
sustainability of those hospitals moving forward. And the team's done
an incredible job and the future both of those facilities
is very bright.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Well hopefully I speak for most of the valley and
saying we appreciate that outlook because we have loved ones
and others and friends and people we know that need that.
Mike's curious question because I like to ask sometimes things
that just hit me while we're in the middle of
the show. How will the new cancer research center that's
going to happen in South Wheeling effect or be partnered
(17:22):
with let's say your two hospitals. Will there be some
connections there? How's that going to work?
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah? Absolutely. The The idea for that is that you know,
that will be really the regional hub of cancer care,
you know, an incredible expansion of clinical trials and really
making sure.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
That's oh good.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, people need care you know in our area that
they don't have to travel outside of of the area.
And you know, you're not having to go to Pittsburgh
or Cleveland. You're able to stay here, be close to
loved ones and your support structures you're going through cancer treatment.
Then you know, we'll look and see, you know, will
(18:02):
there be like some supportive medications or fluids or things
like that that you'll still get at you at your
local hospital. A lot of discussions around that, but I
think that is really going to change cancer care in
our area.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Well, I love telling my story and I'll do it
very briefly though, because it was one of those things
when I found out I had pancreatic cancer, and though
while none of them are that aggressive, I had one
of the more aggressive ones under the non aggressive pancreatic
care or not pancreatic prostate cancer. My wife had that, unfortunately.
But the care was amazing, and I mean when I
went into it, the mindset was We're definitely going to
(18:34):
Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion. That never happened. Tony
wonderful by the time we dealt with the folks here
at WU and then went down there and met with
Ali Hajeron, I think, a two thousand and four graduate
of Wheeling Central High School where all half my more
than half my kids graduated. That was so impressive. And
then everywhere you went down there they said, oh, doctor
Hadra the oncology to you can't get an I was like,
(18:55):
I look at my wife. I said, do we need
to go to Cleveland? She said no, We're going to
stay right here. And it was fabulous, And the aftercare
has been great, with all the oncologists and the people
and the counseling and all the things you have to
deal with with prostate stuff. It's been great. I mean,
I'm like one of those, you know, standing testimonials for
for WVU medicine.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
That's outstanding. And that's the goal, right is to make
sure that you can get treatment.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Right here right so it didn't have to drive all
that far away. We're talking with Tony Martinelli. He is
the CEO of both Reynolds Morey, a hospital under the
WVU Medicine flag, and Wetzel down in New Martinsville. Let's
shift a gear for a second. I mean, I love
talking about leadership. It's probably my favorite thing to talk about.
And You've brought it up a couple of times. I'd
be curious. You mentioned one boss that you had, What
(19:39):
others or even someone without naming that us Like, I
never want to be like that guy or that gual
And I've got a couple of those in my life.
I was like, never, whatever I do, I don't ever
want to be like that. But what other experiences, even family, professors,
whatever it is that have kind of molded you and
helped you get to where you are?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah? Absolutely, you know, I think that started off off
when I was young. I think I was in the
sixth grade when my parents started their own business, and
so watching them go through that process was exciting, right,
And you know, they'd come home and my dad would
always show me the financials and you know, we'd kind
of run through that and he taught me a lot
of those business concepts, which was great.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Oh that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
It was wonderful, you know. And then this being the
Ohio Valley, we love sports, right, and so I had
some wonderful coaches, and I think sports are such a
valuable tool for learning how to be part of a
team and a leader.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
What was your sport?
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So? I played soccer, I ran track, I wrestled.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Wrestled all right, I love the wrestlers. That was me
six years Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Coached Gyuvingo, who was a physical therapy assistant or is
it at Wheeling Hospital. He was my high school wrestling coach.
I was got a little nervous when I was in
the basement. I ran past him because I didn't want
him to run me through drills or anything.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It's a different mindset and wrestling, I tell you, it
is just an incredible sport that I always encourage parents,
especially if your kidney's a little discipline that will teach
it to.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
You absolutely, you know, and you just learn, right, you
can't always score the touchdown or score the goal. Sometimes
it's your job to block. Sometimes it's your job to
you know, pass, sometimes your job to play defense. And
so I think that's really for me, was critical to
understand how to be part of an organization and be
part of a team, you know. Moving on, I mentioned
(21:19):
Sean who is a great boss. And then you know
the CEO of W Medicine, Doug Harrison. I've worked for
him for about five six years now. Just an incredible
person and you know, really lives a lot of the
concepts that you read about in a book, right, how
to build a team, How to you know, care about
that team, not just in what they can do at work. Right, understand,
(21:40):
you know, what are their kids' names, you know what's
their spouse's name, do they have dogs, what are the
interests that they have? And then build those relationships and
you end up building a much more cohesive team that
makes it easier to win, right because you have that
strong team around you. And so I've been very lucky
to have some great influences in my life.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So in the last number of years that I've been
studying leadership the one word that comes up. And now
I'm in the middle of a book by Mark Miller,
who was a he's retired from Chick fil A, but
he was a high up VP and training and his
book Culture Rules, has just speaks to it all. And
it sounds to me like that's what's happening with WVU Medicine,
is there is a culture there. I mean, we went
down not that long ago because one of the members
(22:22):
of our chambers, four year old had a bell ringing.
I'd never been to a bell ringing before. That was
unbelievable to see and just be there and see your
team of all the people there that were working together.
It's just amazing.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah, and culture is so important right in any organization.
But that's how the new folks in the organization kind
of learned the expectations and how we treat patients and
how we treat each other. You know, we've walked through
a new initiative over the last couple of years talking
about the standards of behavior and what are those things
(22:56):
that we want to model, you know, we want our
staff to model and it you know from the very
complex you know, competency in whatever field that you know,
you're practicing in and very technical to making sure that
you say hi in the hallways right, that you you know,
are greeting people. And that's so important, you know, having
(23:16):
young kids, you know, they have a bump, they have
a scrape, and all of a sudden, you know you've
got to take them to the emergency room and you
go from at least I go from hospital administrator to
dad very quickly, right, And so it's fun to see
some of those things that we talk about in meetings
modeled in the staff, and you know, that kindness and
the just that concern that they show. How much more
(23:38):
at ease that puts me as a father when I
have a kid who you know isn't feeling well and
you know, you just want them taken care of, and
and that care is sometimes more important than oh, yeah,
you know the other stuff that's going on.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So it's challenging to me for what you all are in.
And I'm married to a cardiology nurse, not in facility
now she's a case manager, but just having to not
only still like a restaurant, you know, have customer service
and all that type of thing, but typically in the restaurant,
no one's facing bad news of potential death or camp
or whatever, or in an emergency situation, and you've got
(24:13):
to take all that into account with what you're doing
in the compassion that's needed that sometimes someone just needs
a hug, you know. And now we're I think we're
past COVID enough. Now we can hug again. But talk
to us a little about how that what challenge that brings,
especially in the leadership role in the HR folks, I
can't even imagine what they're going through trying to think, well,
we need the skills, we need the character, we need
(24:34):
the compassion. The list seems endless.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, you know, I rode out something a couple of
years ago and we call it not so Undercover Boss,
where I'll go and work in a department for a
day and we have a great time. But I am
blown away every time that I go and work in
a department just how much care that our team puts
into their patients. And you know, I think we talked
(24:58):
about this a little earlier, making sure that you have
a way to take care of yourself after the day
of work. And that's not just for executives, that's for
everyone that works in healthcare. Because it's it can be
an emotionally draining job. If you're doing you know that
that compassion and that care can take it out of
you after you know, a twelve or fourteen hour shift,
(25:18):
and so making sure that you're going home and taking
care of yourself however that looks, if that's a walk,
if that's you know, meditation, getting to the gym, whatever
that looks like. Just making sure that the team takes
that time for themselves.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
I'm curious to ask you because again we're coming up
on a big election coming up, and there's a lot
of talk about health care and where that's going to go,
will it be nationalized or not. What are the discussions
you all are having within WVU Medicine about, maybe even
not so much the political landscape but the financial landscape
and where things are going to go with conglomerations and
all that. Where do you see healthcare going for folks?
Speaker 2 (25:53):
Yeah, you know, healthcare is an incredibly complex, you know
system with payment model and quality initiatives, and so I think,
you know, what I really focus on is making sure
that we have a great team at the local level.
We have wonderful physicians and nurses and that staff and
then whatever happens. You know, at a national level, we
(26:17):
have that team in place that can provide outstanding care.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
Yeah, and you have to just kind of and move
and juke with the with the policies and things that come.
People got to be adaptable, absolutely, Yeah, And we talk
about a lot. It seems like more and more as
time's going on, insurance seems to be dictating who you
can see or what you can do. I mean the
days of the house physician if we want to call
(26:41):
them that, the one that drop by your house, the
house calls or whatever. The relationships are getting tougher between
patient and doctor because of all the things that are happening.
Where do you see that going or what might we
be able to do to help keep a little more
of that cohesiveness between patient and doctor or nurse or whatever.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Yeah, complicated question to kind of sure, you know, answer
in a.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
A in a short podcast, Yeah, in a.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Short podcast and you know, timeframe. But I kind of
still fall back on, you know, if we have really
great clinicians here in our area, we're going to be
able to adapt to whatever the future of healthcare looks like.
And so that's kind of what what I focus on
is making sure that those we have outstanding staff in
(27:28):
place so that we can meet whatever challenge comes up. Well.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
And it's funny as we hear news or you just
talk to people around in the recruiting that WVU is
doing here for all the hospitals in this region, sounds
like it's it's doing really well. What do you think
it is that might attract someone from a we won't
use names, but it's a big city hospital to come here.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Yeah, boy, it's it's the whole gambit, right. Certainly the
WVU Medicine flag carry some weight.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
With it that has just grown immensely.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Absolutely, and people want to be a part of that,
and that's not you know, I think technologists, technicians want
to be a part of that. I think nurses want
to be a part of that, and I think physicians
want to want to be a part of that. You know,
we get wonderful support, you know, from our partners across
the health system, and you know, then then it increases
our ability to recruit those physicians because they're coming to
(28:20):
a great organization and they want to be a part
of that. And then it's about taking care of them
once they once they get here right, making sure that
we're meeting with those physicians, hearing what's important to them.
You know, really great initiatives come from people who are
passionate about something and so understanding, you know, medicine is
a very broad field. And talking to each physician and
(28:42):
finding out what are the things that got you into
medicine and what are the things that you know get
you up in the morning, and then how can we
support that, and then you know, let you drive wonderful
initiatives that you're excited about and passionate about.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
That's great. I love hearing that philosophy. My one last
question I usually ask everybody that comes in here, and
I get different answers, and some might say, well, there
wasn't really one, just this overall shaping. Has there been
kind of a challenge or a tough situation you've had
to get through that helped mold you or even like say,
affected your leadership down the road that you'd say, Okay,
I know I learned a great deal from that and
(29:17):
that won't happen again, or you know, just got you
on a different directory. Is there any kind of challenge
that you can recall like that or a combination?
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, so I don't recall a specific challenge. What I
do recall is is the shift between as you sort
of go up in your career, at some point you
working harder is no longer the answer. Right. There are
more things in the to do box than you can
do than one person can do. And you know, as
you're growing up, if you want to get a better grade,
(29:48):
you study harder. If you want to do better on
the athletic field, you practice more, and a lot of
those are things that you can do right. But at
some point you have to work more on building the
team around you because ultimately, if you want to be successful,
you have to have that great team because you won't
be able to as one person. Just work harder, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
I think that is a great answer to conclude the podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
On Tony wonderful, Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Thank you you've been listening to CEOs. You should know.
I'm your host, Mike Howard, Chief Operating Officer of the
Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. We are pleased to be
the sponsor of CEOs. Used to know with our partner
iHeartRadio here and Willing, our guest has been Tony Martinelli,
CEO of Reynolds Memorial and We'sbell County Hospitals under that
WVU Medicine flag. As you say, I like that that
(30:36):
blue and gold. Maybe a little more blue from what
I've seen on the logos. But thank you so much
for being here sharing your insight in your life with us.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Awesome. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
We'll see you next time on CEOs. You should know
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