The 138-bed Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, under construction in a western suburb of Chicago, is the first hospital granted a certificate of need in the state of Illinois in 25 years. With an anticipated opening of September 2007, the hospital’s administrative team—Isaac Palmer, chief executive officer; Kathy Mitchell, chief nursing officer; and Karsten Randolph, chief financial officer—is very busy.
Isaac Palmer, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital Chief Executive Officer
Along with keeping abreast of the construction on campus, Isaac's current challenge as chief executive officer (CEO) is creating a medical staff of about 350 for the new hospital. “I am meeting individually with physicians who want to practice here or move to the area and build their practice.”
Isaac's roots are deep within Adventist Midwest Health (AMH). He was born at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital and worked there as part of his management training residency with Adventist Health System (AHS). He was named executive director of Adventist Bolingbrook Medical Center, a free-standing emergency and trauma center, a division of Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, in December 2000. The new hospital will become the fifth hospital within AMH.
“I always intended to work for an organization tied to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. My father worked in various capacities within the church, serving as the business manager for Oakwood College and treasurer for the church. He is a great role model for me." At college, he was influenced by Benjamin Reeves, then president of Oakwood College, who later became AHS vice president of mission ministries.
Isaac explored health care as a career option and interviewed with AHS. When he graduated from Oakwood College, he entered a three-year residency program with AHS, working for two years in Florida before returning to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital in Illinois.
After his residency, Isaac served six months in planning and business development at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital before taking the helm in Bolingbrook. Isaac serves as a library trustee and is a member of the local Chamber of Commerce.
“Isaac is building a strong team, and his leadership is a driving force to the success of this hospital,” said Ronda Klocko, marketing site manager for Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital. “He’s committed to the mission, a sense of community, and he cares for patients and staff.”
This year, Isaac also participated in an AMH-sponsored mission trip to Ghana, West Africa. “It’s a way of giving to a community halfway around the world that needs you. The Lord blesses us with so many things to share. It was so rewarding to help build a girls' dormitory for an Adventist school,” he said.
Off campus, Isaac enjoys golfing and spending time at the park with his wife Sybil and their children, Mary and Isaac III.
Kathy Mitchell, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital Chief Nursing Officer
Kathy Mitchell came to Bolingbrook from Celebration Health, a campus of Florida Hospital in Celebration, Florida, where she was assistant administrator. As a chief nursing officer there, Kathy was part of the opening team at that facility in 1998.
As part of AMH, one of her many responsibilities is recruiting and training nurses for Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital. In her 23 years in nursing, she has worked in critical care and medical/surgical units and developed leadership skills as a charge nurse, nursing manager, director of nursing, and as a chief nursing officer. Her philosophy of nursing is based on the holistic care of patients and balanced performance of five elements: team, clinical, service, market, and finance.
“I approach leadership and the business of health care from a balanced performance philosophy—keeping a balance of performance in these five key areas of excellence that include our ability to recruit and retain a highly engaged work force. It’s important to deliver high quality clinical outcomes and achieve patient satisfaction based on inpatient, outpatient, and Emergency department visits,” notes Kathy.
Kathy earned a B.S. from Saint Leo University in Saint Leo, Florida, and a MBA from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. She is married and has three children. Focused and disciplined, Kathy also is looking for future leaders in nursing. “I like to identify traits of potential leaders and mentor. It’s important to develop future talent for [AMH] and continue that accountability,” said Kathy.
A nurse noted, “I was able to develop good interpersonal, communicative, and negotiating skills through observing Kathy’s dynamic leadership style. Most importantly, Kathy taught me that enthusiasm and a sense of joy can be a part of my clinical and leadership practice.”
Karsten Randolph, Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital Chief Financial Officer
Karsten Randolph sees his role as chief financial officer (CFO) tied to being a good steward. “It is often said: ‘No money. No mission.’ I believe being a good steward is extremely important in furthering our mission. I do that in my role as CFO of a new hospital in order to offer the most state-of-the-art facility to the community,” he said.
“My dad (Gary Randolph) is director of education for the Lake Union Conference and has worked for a church school or the conference for as long as I can remember. I learned early on what it means to live the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church through the dedication my dad showed to Adventist education during his whole career.”
Brinsley Lewis, Adventist GlenOaks CEO, said of his former staff member, “Karsten is a very talented CFO and his commitment to the mission will add to the success of Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital.”
Karsten's road to CFO started with his first job out of Andrews University working for the General Conference Auditing Service. He moved on to work briefly for a CPA firm in Henderson, North Carolina, before stepping into the financial world of health care. Along the way, he was licensed as a CPA. Karsten joined AHS as controller of Manchester Memorial Hospital in Kentucky and helped consolidate the accounting for Manchester Memorial and Jellico Community Hospital in Tennessee before moving to Maine where he was controller for Parkview Adventist Medical Center.
In 2003, Karsten moved back to the Lake Union Conference and worked as director of finance for AHS Midwest Region. Later that year, he was named CFO for Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights, Illinois. He was named CFO for Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital in February 2006. Karsten is currently working on a MBA degree from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois.
From his Bolingbrook office, he literally overlooks the construction site of the hospital. His work life is full of meetings, developing service lines, estimating patient volumes, coordinating purchases of new equipment, planning designs of new operating rooms, and crunching numbers to develop a first-year budget for the $130 million hospital.
“I meet with the construction project manager daily. I’m involved in decisions as small as a door handle and as big as a boiler. As things within the design or departments change, I have to relate financially how that will affect other plans.”
His home life is shared with his wife Clarissa (Saunders), three-year-old daughter Mia, and Bergen the dog.
“I value the Adventist mission, having grown up in a household where my parents were devoted to serving the mission and the church. I feel working for the church and [AHS] are ways to give back to our denomination. I had a great Adventist education and it’s been a blessing to me. When Adventists work for the healing ministry of Christ, it strengthens the mission for the whole church."
Lynn Larson is a public relations specialist for Adventist Midwest Health.
