New board directors and officers announced
Published 3:20 pm Sunday, August 4, 2019
Desiderio Rimon
Clint Clary
David Chelmow
Shane Cerone
Kenny Pitts
Kendele Underwood
Jay Stafford
John Lee Jr.
VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital (CMH) in South Hill recently announced the newest members of the CMH Board of Directors. Governed by 10 citizens of its service area and four representatives of VCU Health, the 14-member board of directors is comprised of both medical and nonmedical individuals representing a wide array of businesses and professions. These dedicated volunteers along with VCU Health and CMH Administration share a fundamental belief that local communities are in the best position to identify and meet local health care needs.
The CMH Board of Directors represent the service areas of Brunswick, Lunenburg and Mecklenburg counties. In general, each member serves three consecutive three-year terms; however, there is a provision for them to serve longer when necessary. The Board sets policy, oversees the financial well-being of the hospital and is responsible for long-range planning. In addition and most importantly, the Board is responsible for oversight of the quality, safety and service levels that patients receive at CMH and for approving the appointment of physicians and other licensed providers as members of the Medical Staff.
New members joining the Board during the June meeting were: Clint Clary representing Brunswick County, Kendele Underwood representing Mecklenburg County and Jay Stafford representing Lunenburg County. Also replacing two board members from VCU Health are Shane Cerone and Dr. David Chelmow.
As of July 1, Dr. Desiderio Rimon will attend Board meetings as the Chief of Staff representing the CMH Medical Staff and Kenny Pitts as the Auxiliary President representing the CMH Auxiliary.
The officers of the CMH Board of Directors for this year are: Chairman, John C. Lee, Jr. representing Mecklenburg; Vice Chairman, William E. “Billy” Wells, Jr. representing Mecklenburg; Treasurer, Cindy H. Pecht representing Brunswick; and Secretary, Paul Neimeyer with VCU Health.
“I am honored to have been elected by my fellow directors to serve as the VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital board chairman and I look forward to working with the board and staff to continue the great work currently being done there. Since the affiliation with VCU Health, and our subsequent move into the new hospital, we have seen consistent improvement in the numbers and statistics we associate with the hospital’s success and, more importantly, in the feedback we receive from those who are treated there,” said Chairman Lee.
Other Board Members include; representing Mecklenburg County are Dr. David Brown and William “Billy” Wilkinson; representing Brunswick County is G. Nelson Baird; representing Lunenburg County is Cecil Shell; and representing VCU Health are Melinda Hancock and Dr. Tom Yackel. Legal counsel is provided by Paul Neimeyer with VCU Health.
The CMH Board of Directors volunteer their time and expertise to assure that the community, nonprofit hospital remains on a strong course for the future. These Directors generously give of themselves, their time, experience and skills and in turn to their community to ensure that VCU Health CMH continues to enhance the health and well-being of the citizens of Southside Virginia and Northern North Carolina.
Lee also stated, “I’m very honored to be associated with the hospital, privileged to serve alongside a very capable and dedicated board of directors and hospital staff, and proud to have chaired the affiliation committee whose efforts resulted in the relationship with VCU Health, and the new hospital and health care facility. Our community deserves high quality health care delivered, with desirable options, at a contemporary, state of the art facility and VCU Health CMH is moving progressively, and aggressively, toward that end. And while we are pleased with the current state of affairs there, rest assured, the capable and professional people who work in that beautiful new facility every day, along with the CEO and board of directors, are committed to being the best. We’ll not rest on past laurels and will diligently continue to seek out opportunities for improvement, make every effort to meet the changing health care needs of the region, and be a corporate citizen that takes a back seat to no one.”
