BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Kimberly Shaw, the new President of St. Joseph Health in the Brazos Valley, has officially moved into the area and started her work.
KBTX sat down with Shaw Thursday to learn more about where she comes from and her goals for healthcare in the Brazos Valley.
“I’m from Texas. My grandparents were born in Waco and raised, and I was born and raised in Texas and went away for a while and was happy to come back,” Shaw said. “I was a registered nurse. I started as an LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse), became a registered nurse and started my career in the emergency room over in Huntsville. From there, I evolved over many, many years, of course, and now I’m here as the market president.”
Shaw moved to the area from Las Vegas, where she worked as the market president for Dignity Health St. Rose Dominican San Martin. With her, she brings her own philosophy for patient care.
“What’s important to me is patient care and quality and safety and all of those things. But, I have a simple approach that I tell the staff and that is: we have to be the best place to be a patient, the best place to be a physician and the best place to be an employee. If we do all of those things on a foundation of quality and patient safety, then we’re going to be wildly successful,” she said.
When asked about the recent moves in St. Joseph Health to transition food services and move women and pediatric care to the College Station campus, having all care under one roof. Shaw says these moves can be necessary but are not always permanent.
“Sometimes we have to look at: does it make sense in a 10 or 12-mile radius to duplicate services? Where it makes sense, we’ll definitely continue to do that. I think our goal is to grow, always, but it has to be smart growth,” Shaw said. “We’ll do an evaluation and see what works but definitely, this area is growing. So, there is an opportunity for growth conversations.”
Coming out of peak pandemic years, Shaw says she wants to continue building on transparency in the medical field and visitation for patients. But, she did notice a change in the way hospitals and staff worked together, something she hopes to expand on in the future.
“Usually we’re in competition with each other but during that time we really had to come closer together and work more cohesively and I think it’s just so important. So I’ll do that here as well. And then, of course, we have our larger system within the division that we work with and I’m on calls with them all the time,” she said.
As she continues getting more comfortable in town, Shaw says she’s excited to continue discussions not only with those in the medical field but those she now serves.
“I’m excited to get out in the community, meet community leaders and community people to find out how can we better serve and meet the needs of our mission,” Shaw said.
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