Staff Writer
The Upper San Juan Health Services District has hired Kyle Kellum to be their new chief operations officer (COO).
Kellum has over three years of senior-level management experience in the medical arena and will be joining the district to assume his role as COO in mid-June.
According to his resume, Kellum has worked for Syringa Hospital and Clinics in Grangeville, Idaho, since November 2011.
Kellum earned his Masters of Healthcare Administration degree from Des Moines University in 2012. According to a Syringa Hospital press release, Kellum worked closely with St. Jude’s Hospital in St. Lucia, an island in the Caribbean, to construct a framework to build a Quality Assurance program for his master’s degree capstone project.
The release states, “Over the course of 2 months (offsite) and 2 weeks (onsite in St. Lucia), Kellum worked with St. Jude’s Hospital’s administrative and executive teams to develop a sustainable, effective and patient care driven program.”
During his time with Syringa Hospital and Clinics, Kellum held the positions of radiology manager, director of diagnostic and therapeutic services, director of ancillary services, and, most recently, chief performance officer (promoted January 2014).
In addition to holding two undergraduate degrees (in IT and in Science Healthcare Management), Kellum is a certified Master Trainer in TeamSTEPPS. Team STEPPS is a teamwork system designed to improve patient safety and communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals.
Outside of the medical arena, Kellum has been active in his community, participating with Grangeville Youth Baseball, the Lions Club, Rural Idaho Outreach Partners and the Lewis-Clark State College Education Outreach Advisory Board.
shanti.johnson@pagosasun.com
