Johnstone is new Kindred CEO
♦ She wants to make sure everyone knows what Kindred Hospital is and what it does.
The newest CEO at one of Rome’s major medical facilities is no stranger to the medical community in Rome. Kindred Healthcare has announced the promotion of Jennifer Johnstone to the CEO post at Kindred Hospital. Johnstone has served as Chief Clinical Officer at the long-term acute care hospital since 2010.
Kindred is a 45-bed hospital at 304 Turner McCall Blvd. on the greater Floyd Medical Center campus, but it is a completely separate entity from FMC.
“All of our hands-on clinical staff are our own people. We have our own physicians, our own pharmacy, so we are a stand-alone facility,” Johnstone said. “There are still people that don’t know that we exist, let alone what we provide to the community.”
She said that her primary short-term mission is to make the role of the hospital clearly known across the community.
“It’s been here for many years and a lot of people don’t understand the value we bring to the community,” Johnstone said. She said that the type of patients that Kindred serves are typically in the older demographics, with chronic conditions that require longer stays in acutecare facilities.
“If we were not here, families would have to drive to Atlanta or Chattanooga or Birmingham to be with their loved ones,” Johnstone said.
Kindred has a 12-bed Intensive Care Unit, and Johnston said a large percentage of their patient load are people with chronic pulmonary conditions.
The average length of stay is typically three to four weeks.
Johnstone, has been active in the Rome healthcare community for the past 25 years, since 2010, and has been working in Rome’s healthcare community for over 25 years. She obtained her Registered Nurse degree from Floyd College, a BSN RN from the University of West Georgia, and has recently completed a Master of Public Administration from Purdue Global University.
Another one of Johnstone’s goals is to develop better working relationships with many of the skilled care nursing facilities.
“We want to be partners with everyone in that continuum of care. From here we hope to send them home but sometimes they may need day patient rehab, and unfortunately, some of them will need skilled nursing facilities, so we want to partner with the best ones to help our families get them to where they need to be,” Johnstone said.