Ball named to hospital board

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, November 3, 2009

NATCHEZ — The Adams County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to appoint Natchez resident Gwen Ball to the Natchez Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees.

Ball will be filling the unexpired position of the Rev. Zabron “Chip” Davis, who vacated the seat when he moved from the area.

Supervisor Mike Lazarus nominated Ball — who has a background as a nurse — to fill the position.

“I have talked to Gwen on several occasions, and she has this want-to-be-involved spirit, she wants to help, and she has a medical background, so I nominated her,” he said.

Ball said she was pleased to have been nominated for the position and looked forward to serving the community in that capacity.

“I wish to work toward creating consensus on this board in our effort to ensure the best quality of health care for the citizens of Adams County and the region as we face important and critical decisions in the months ahead,” she said in a written statement Monday.

“NRMC can and should become the first choice for health care in this region.”

The board interviewed five candidates for the position.

“The majority of the board who voted for her liked that she had a medical background and they felt she would fill the position of Chip Davis well,” President Henry Watts said. “He touted himself as a peacemaker and a consensus maker, and (Ball) said she was a little bit of the same thing.”

At supervisor’s meeting Monday, NRMC board member the Rev. Leroy White said it is important to have a full board of trustees.

“We are in the process of selecting a new (hospital) CEO, in the process of coming out of bankruptcy and in the process of taking the hospital in a new direction, and to do that we need a full board,” he said.

Hospital board attorney Walter Brown agreed with White.

“(The appointee) particularly needs to be involved in the ending of the bankruptcy process,” he said.

Until Davis’ seat was filled, the hospital board couldn’t take any action because it had an even number of votes, White said.

Ball’s term will expire in February, as will the terms of two other board members.

“I hope we will consider some of these who applied this time, because we had some good candidates,” Lazarus said. “It was really neck and neck.”