Medical Center wins magazine’s ‘Business of the Year’ recognition
The Medical Center of South Arkansas was recognized as Business of the Year by Arkansas Business at its 33rd annual awards ceremony, held across stages at the Robinson Center ballroom and DoubleTree Hotel in Little Rock, on March 3.
“It felt great to be at a banquet — to be able to sit at a table and socialize,” Scott Street, MCSA chief executive officer said. “Arkansas Business — they’ve had a few of these, and they seem to be a leader in the state in
trying to get back to some normalcy.”
Each year, Arkansas Business seeks the public’s input on nominees for the awards, and winners are selected from finalists across eight categories. Businesses of four different sizes are eligible for Business of the Year, and other categories include Nonprofit of the Year, Nonprofit Executive of
the Year, Business Executive of the Year and Legacy of Leadership.
MCSA won Business of the Year in the largest category of businesses awards are open to, those with between 101 and 499 employees. Other winners this year included:
- The Shops at Brick City, Business of the Year Category I (1-30 employees)
- Consolidated Admin Services, Business of the Year Category II (31-55 employees)
- Entegrity, Business of the Year Category III (56-100 employees)
- The Venture Center, Nonprofit Organization of the Year
- Fred Scarborough, Nonprofit Executive of the Year
- Heather Nelson, Executive of the Year
- Johnelle Hunt, Legacy of Leadership
“All (nominees) were deserving,” Street said. “To be one of the four or five to be reviewed and then to be chosen was the ultimate honor.”
Among MCSA’s competition were the Benchmark Group in Rogers; Dow Janitorial in North Little Rock; Kitestring Technical Services in Bentonville; and Methodist Village Senior Living in Fort Smith. MCSA was the only hospital that became a finalist at any level.
“I was kind of in shock, because these were leaders across the state, and here we are in south Arkansas winning a statewide award, so I was proud,” said Alex Bennett, executive director of business development at MCSA.
This wasn’t the first time MCSA has received statewide recognition. In 2019, Arkansas Business named the hospital one of the top workplaces in the state and just last year, MCSA received the Governor’s Quality Award, which was presented by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Street said the credit for their most recent recognition all goes to the team members that staff the hospital.
“We wouldn’t have been there without our staff, and this award was for our staff,” he said.
MCSA is one of the largest employers in El Dorado. Street said it is both an opportunity and a responsibility for the hospital.
“There’s a lot of responsibility on us to provide as high a quality of care as we can. That’s the constant pressure on our organization and our leadership that we continue to strive to be better and better each day,” he said.
Bennett noted that the hospital has been renovating its campus regularly; for example, the last phase of a multi-million dollar ICU upgrade should be getting fully underway this week and. Additionally, the hospital is always seeking to add new services, particularly subspecialities.
“We have a lot in the books as far as renovations and service line expansions that we’re excited for,” Bennett said.
One thing “in the books” is the upcoming groundbreaking of a new building where a regional medical training center will be stationed, a revival of the program formerly known as AHEC. A date hasn’t been set for the groundbreaking yet, but Street said it will take about nine months to build, and the program will get off the ground after 2022.
Bennett said it’s hospital leadership’s goal for MCSA to grow with the community, including by attracting more people to the south Arkansas region.
“We realize that health care is very important when people are choosing a location to move themselves and their family. (They ask) ‘does the hospital have a good women’s center? Is their ER good for heart attacks?’” she said. “We’re wanting to grow with the community and not only be of service to El Dorado, but to the whole south Arkansas region.”