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By MACKENZEE SIMMS | Special to the Reporter

Just a few miles from the doors of Baptist Health Shelby Hospital lives the childhood home of hospital president Holly Dean. Now, just down the road, she leads management of the hospital where she was born.

“I just remember it was a great place to live–a very friendly, wonderful community,” Dean said. “Undoubtedly, Birmingham is home for me, which is why it is really nice to be back here, working in the same community I grew up in.”

Despite growing up a die-hard Crimson Tide fan, Dean attended Auburn University for her undergraduate degree. For her masters, Dean decided to move closer to home and study health administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“I’m very proud to be able to say that I went to one of the best programs in order to get the education and training I need for the career field that I’ve chosen, and it’s amazing to be able to do that in your backyard,” Dean said.

During the third year of her graduate school program, Dean completed a residency in Florida where she stayed for the beginning of her career as the chief operating officer for Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.

While in Florida, Dean shared that she navigated several difficult situations that grew her abilities as a leader and taught her lessons that she still uses today. As COO, Dean helped the hospital navigate challenges such as the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Gulf Coast Medical Center is located in the Florida panhandle, which was directly in the path of Hurricane Michael which devastated Panama City in 2018. Dean explained that Michael’s impact was felt on all aspects of life.

For many hospital employees, the hurricane brought challenges to their personal lives, from home damage to transportation issues, and created problems in the hospital from limited supplies and resources. Dean shared that Hurricane Michael demonstrated the strength of those who work in healthcare and taught her lessons about crisis management that she still implements today.

“Something like a category five hurricane is not something I care to go back through again, but it was an amazing learning and teaching experience as a leader,” Dean said. “It will teach you a lot about yourself, but it’ll also teach you a lot about your team and the teamwork that can be accomplished when you’re in crisis.”

In addition, Dean shared that her experience as a COO helped prepare her to ultimately step into a CEO role at Shelby Hospital.

“As COO, you’re really in the trenches,” Dean said. “You’re learning the nuts and bolts of healthcare operations. That’s important to have as a foundation for ultimately stepping into a CEO role where you’ve got to know enough about all the intricacies of us and what we have to do to provide healthcare each day.”

When it became time for Dean to advance to the next step of her career, it seemed only natural for her to seize the opportunity for her to give back to the community that raised her.

“I always said early on when I was in school that I would love to be able to come back and take care of my hometown, my community, and do what I love doing each and every day in my career,” Dean said. “Whether it’s Alabaster, Hoover or whether it was UAB through graduate school, they have given a lot to me and taken care of me in many ways. Now, I get the opportunity to give back.”

The people that surround her

In the fall of 2022, Dean joined the team at Shelby Baptist Medical Center as the chief executive officer. Featuring more than 40 departments, the team at the hospital is comprised of roughly 1,000 team members that work together daily to continue allowing the hospital to care for patients.

“It’s very much like a puzzle, and each department is a piece of that puzzle,” Dean said. “We have to make sure that the pieces fit together right, and they’re tight and they’re secure.”

Hospitals are more than just doctors and nurses and patients. Hospitals contain multitudes including janitorial staff, imaging technicians, food service employees, therapists, landscapers, pharmacists and administrators that ensure everything runs smoothly.

“We are a little city inside the four walls of this hospital,” Dean said. “The list goes on and on, and it takes each and every one of those partners for us to deliver the care that we have to provide every day.”

For Dean, the special part about her job and the hospital remains the relationships she has built and the people she has met at every level within the hospital.

“There are just amazing people inside this organization,” Dean said. “It is truly one of the most positive cultures that I think I’ve ever worked in. It’s just good southern people who love doing what they do each and every day.”

And the feeling is not a one-way street. Dean’s colleagues echo similar sentiments about her, such as Business Development Manager Virginia Sherrell.

“To work with a leader like Holly has been both refreshing and inspiring,” Sherrell said. “She has such a passion for this facility and our people, and that shows in her work every day.”

Current COO Watson Hughston shared that he is excited to continue working with her to guide Shelby Baptist into the future.

“Holly is a fantastic leader and advocate for the hospital and Shelby County community,” Hughston said. “I am thrilled to be a part of her team and excited to see where she takes (Shelby Hospital) in the future.”

The future before her

In the past several years, there have been a few major changes at Shelby Baptist Medical Center, the most recent coming with Orlando Health purchasing Brookwood Baptist to take the hospital into new ownership, since rebranding to Baptist Health Shelby Hospital. Dean believes that these changes have placed the hospital on the precipice of a bright future.

“Unfortunately, you could argue that there has been a reduction in services over the years, but I ultimately say that leads us to nothing but opportunity in the future ahead,” Dean said. “We are going to continue to rebuild, we are going to fix and we’re going to be better than we ever have. When I think about the next years for Shelby, I genuinely believe who we are today will be dramatically different than who we will be in two years. We are poised for growth.”

Dean said the staff’s response, as well as her own, has been tremendous with the changes, as community both internally and externally, has become key.

“When I think about how things have changed in general, I would just say that there’s a lot of energy and excitement,” Dean said. “Sometimes change can be scary, but the sense I get is that this change is very exciting–exciting for the team members here, exciting for our physicians and exciting for the community.”

She added that the community has been a huge priority for Orlando Health, extending their reach beyond the walls of the hospital to make sure residents feel their passion for the area.

With the help of Orlando Health, Dean is excited to tackle several projects at Baptist Health Shelby Hospital

“The objective in the next two years is really to fix, and we have things to fix,” Dean said. “Whether it’s services or whether it’s first impressions, we’ve got things we have to fix. That’s what we’re going to focus on in the next couple of years, so that we’re poised for what will be the need to grow in the future.”

As Dean looks toward the future of Shelby Hospital, she also looks toward the future of Shelby County. She has great faith in her home town and believes that Alabaster is on the verge of a boom of growth.

“What I’m most excited for is–simplistically put–the future for Shelby,” Dean said. “The future is bright. Our service area is vast, and now we’re going to have the resources that we need to support us and to be able to have the outreach we’re going to need in this community as it continues to grow.”

When asked if she would like to share a message with the Shelby County community, Dean replied: Buckle up.

“It’s going be a fun ride,” Dean said. “Continue to support and believe in us because we’re going to be here for the long haul. We’re going to be in a position to support this community and be what it needs in a healthcare provider for years to come.”