FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2009 
St. John's People in the News

Jay Guffey named St. John's Hospital Senior Vice President/COO

Jay Guffey has accepted the position as senior vice president/COO of St. John’s Hospital, effective Dec. 14.  He will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations and financial performance of the hospital. 

Guffey will partner with Allan Allphin, MD, St. John’s Hospital Chief of Medical Staff.  St. John’s Hospital vice presidents will report directly to Jay. 

Guffey has been with Mercy for 31 years; 25 of those years with St. John’s in various leadership roles and most recently serving the last six years as Mercy’s Vice President Region 1 Genesis Epic Implementation.

Michele Schaefer named senior vice president, regional operations

Michele Schaefer has accepted the new position of senior vice president, St. John’s Regional Operations effective Dec. 14.  She will be responsible for the operations of all five St. John’s regional hospitals in Aurora, Cassville, Mountain View, Lebanon and Berryville, Arkansas. Additionally, she will be working with Mercy Central Region to coordinate regional operational services. 

Schaefer will partner with David Barbe, MD, St. John’s Clinic, Division President.  The four regional hospital presidents will report to Michele and she will also oversee operations of Mercy Villa, Home Health Care, Hospice and Durable Medical Equipment. 

Schaefer has been with St. John’s for 4 years most recently serving as SVP/COO of St. John’s Hospital

Dr. Shachar Tauber invited for grand rounds at Uniformed Services University

St. John’s director of ophthalmology research, Dr. Shachar Tauber was recently invited to be the visiting professor for the ophthalmology grand rounds at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda Maryland. The topic of his lecture was “Refractive Surgery: Improving Patient Satisfaction”. Dr. Tauber was invited by Dr. Scott Bower, director of ophthalmology research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  Together Drs. Bower and Tauber have been involved with on going research in refractive surgery and corneal injury repair.  Dr. Tauber has also trained staff members at Walter Reed on lasers for LASIK, which are used at St. John’s and recently added to Walter Reed.

Michele Barker new assistant nursing director of labor and delivery

Michele Barker, BSN, has been selected as the new assistant nursing director for labor and delivery at St. John’s Hospital.  Barker received her BSN from the University of Michigan School of Nursing in 1998 and has worked as an registered nurse in Michigan, Iowa, Arizona and Missouri.

While in Arizona, Barker gained management experience as director of health services for the Orme School in Mayer, Arizona.  She has worked in labor and delivery for the past three years at Cox and St. John’s.  She is a member of the labor and delivery’s Performance Improvement Initiatives and Risk Management activities.

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