A wonderful job. Irreplaceable friends. A favorite burrito joint.
That’s part of the life Moody Chisholm has built in Jacksonville since coming here in 2010 to be president and CEO of St. Vincent’s HealthCare.
His reach has extended deep into the community, through his work as a member of the JAX Chamber board of directors, the Jacksonville Civic Council and the mayor’s port task force.
But then came an opportunity to join what he said both 2012 presidential candidates called a model health care system that should be emulated across the country.
After much prayer and thought, Chisholm knew he couldn’t pass it up.
He resigned this month from the Jacksonville hospital to become a top executive for Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Chisholm, 55, will lead the system’s largest hospital — Intermountain Medical Center — and also serve as regional vice president of the company’s central region.
The move reunites him with Laura Kaiser, who hired him for the St. Vincent’s job when she was an executive with Ascension Health.
The Intermountain opportunity, Chisholm said, is one he could never duplicate. “The team I will work with make our system the best in the world,” he said.
A system that will focus on offering the highest quality and most affordable healthcare system in the world, he said.
But leaving the staff and board at St. Vincent’s is incredibly difficult.
“It’s not too strong of a word to say I love them,” Chisholm said.
And then there are the personal relationships he, his wife and their son and daughter have built.
“I have a friend or two in town that (I know) I won’t be able to find those same friends anywhere else,” Chisholm said.
Hugh Greene, president and CEO of Baptist Health, calls Chisholm “a valued colleague and friend and one for whom I have very, very high respect.”
He said he and Chisholm have a “strong collegial relationship that people might even be surprised about.”
“I’m kind of the old guy,” Greene said.
He said Chisholm had been the “convener” of the monthly meeting of the area’s six health care CEOs, where they talk about topics like uninsured residents or how to work with the dean of the nursing school.
Chisholm did such a good job of organizing the agenda and scheduling guests, Greene said, nobody talked about changing the set-up.
Greene said he’s not surprised by the opportunity Chisholm got with Intermountain, which he called one of the most respected health care companies in the country.
“I have said to many people, given who he is and how capable he is, I would not be surprised if he moved on,” Greene said. “We will miss him in our community.”
Jeanne Miller, president of the Civic Council, said Chisholm offered great insight to the discussion the group has been having about the lack of sustainable funding for UF Health Jacksonville, which provides care to indigent residents.
She said Chisholm has a quiet confidence about him and is always on point and on target.
“He knows what he’s talking about and talks with a level of authority and expertise,” she said.
Chisholm said the hospital he will lead is about the same size as St. Vincent’s, but it also has a Level 1 trauma center and does heart, kidney, liver and lung transplants. “They even implant mechanical hearts,” Chisholm said.
Plus the hospital has an academic partnership with the University of Utah.
Despite all the positives with the new job, Chisholm said accepting it was “such a difficult decision.”
He called leading St. Vincent’s the greatest reward of his career.
“I got a wonderful lesson in servant leadership from the Daughters of Charity,” he said. “They are such an incredible example of humbling yourself to better serve people that are vulnerable.”
Chisholm is happy St. Vincent’s chose Donnie Romine to serve as interim president and CEO while a national search is being conducted. He hired Romine, who is chief operating officer of St. Vincent’s HealthCare and president of St. Vincent’s Medical Center Riverside.
Chisholm said he and his wife are working to get their Ortega home listed on the market and preparing to take a trip to Utah so their children, ages 9 and 10, can see their new city.
And they’ll probably make a trip to their favorite restaurant, Lola’s Burrito Joint on King Street, for one last chorizo empanada.
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