Johnson County Appointments

Annabeth Surbaugh has been elected to the newly formed chair position of the Johnson County Board of Commissioners. Her previous position was that of the Third District Commissioner. Dan Koenig has been named as the new Overland Park Chamber President. This seat was vacated by Mary Birch who left the position when she ran unsuccessfully for Kansas Lieutenant Governor.

Partnership Dissolved

Effective November 1, 2002, St. Luke’s Health System and Shawnee Mission Medical Center have ceased their operating partnership. Shawnee Mission Medical Center assets have been retained by Adventist Health Mid-America.

Tenet fails KC bid, Restructures

Tenet Healthcare has named Trevor Fetter to become its newly appointed president. Fetter will report serve under Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Barbakow. Chief Operating Officer Thomas Mackey has retired, and David Dennis, who had been Tenet’s chief corporate officer and chief financial officer has also resigned. Tenet was considered one of the two possible successors to acquire KC-based Health Midwest, and is currently under review in the State of California for questionable billing practices.

EMSystem launched

Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services have launched an Internet service that links local public health agencies, emergency service providers and hospitals. The service will provide a venue to communicate during emergencies and manage casualties. Funding was provided by the MHA and the federal bioterrorism fund.

Head Start for KCMC

U. S. Senator Kit Bond announces a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help fund Head Start programs in Kansas City.

MO Hospital Assn. Elects Chair

Richard Brown was installed as the 2003 Chair of the Missouri Hospital Association’s Board of Trustees. Brown currently serves as president and chief executive officer of KC-based Health Midwest. His duties will include overseeing and directing activities of the MHA Board of Trustees and acting as a day-to-day adviser to MHA. Brown serves on several area boards including The Health Alliance of MidAmerica, Midwest Transplant Services in St. Louis, Health Systems Governing Council, The University of Health Sciences in Kansas City, The Cancer Institute, Mid-American Coalition on Health Care, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and Premier Inc.

Gradinger Elected President

Gary Gradinger, Chairman and CEO of Golden Star Inc, has been elected 81st President of the International Sanitary Supply Association for 2003. This international organization has 4,600 member companies from 83 countries and represents total industry sales of over $80 billion annually.

Missouri Utility Reduces Staff

Ameren Corporation out of Saint Louis, Missouri announces plans to provide an voluntary early retirement package for approximately 1,000 of its employees.

Cable Biz

The new president of the Kansas City office of Time Warner Cable will be Robert Moel. Moel is relocating to KC from Shreveport, La., and will replace the veteran president, Bob Niles who retired after working 25 years with Time Warner.

Minority Business Development

Kansas Office of Minority and Women Business Development has announced that Judy Horn, owner of Serenity—The Rejuvenating Day Spa, has been awarded the “Kansas WomanOwned Professional Service Firm of the Year.” Serenity was honored by Ingram’s in the 2000 Best of Business Kansas City Awards for being one of the best day spas in the Kansas City area.

Urban Land Institute awards

The first annual Urban Land Institute awards were given to six area companies: Categories include: Smart Growth, where DST Systems Inc. was the honoree; Residential winners included Mel Mallin of Quality Hill Historic Rehabilitation Associates, Ltd and McCormack Baron Associates, Ltd.; the Heritage catagory winner was Union Station Kansas City Inc., and the Cultural/Public Space award was garnered by the Jazz District Redevelopment Corp.

KU Grants galore

Kansas University has received a $3.6 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders. Funding will support research for a new Bio-behavioral Neurosciences Center at the KU and KU medical Center campuses. KU was also granted $3.5 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to help establish the Center for Stabilizations of Vaccines and to expand Web software to create a Bio-Threat Initiative to simulate and predict spread of biological agents and determine the human populations at risk.