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Barbara J. Martin 77' and 85'-Alumni Achievement
Barbara J. Martin has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare leadership. In 1977, the Lewis alumna began her career as a staff nurse at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Ill., where she later became Director of Nursing, a post she held through 1987. She served as Vice President of Patient Services/Chief Nursing Officer for Saint Margaret and Mercy Health Centers in Hammond, Ind., from 1987 until her appointment in 1990 as Vice President, Hospital Operations and Ambulatory Services at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill. In 1998, she became System Vice President, Clinical Operations/System Improvement for the Provena Health System in Frankfort, Ill.
Working as an independent contractor, Barbara served as the interim Vice President for Patient Services Operations for Temple University Hospital, Episcopal Hospital and Temple Children’s Medical Center in Pennsylvania for one year. In 2003, she became Chief Transformation Officer for the original Vista Health; in 2004, she was named Chief Operating Officer; and in June of 2005 Barbara was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer.
In July of 2005, she recruited and led the acquisition to the new Vista Health System, which is part of Community Health Systems (CHS), the nation’s leading for-profit operator of general acute care hospitals in non-urban communities. While serving as President and CEO of the original Vista Health, she negotiated the successful consolidation of acute care services from the west campus to the east campus of the original Vista Health with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, signed a letter of intent with CHS to position Vista Health for future growth and saw this through to successful closing of the asset purchase agreement on June 30, 2006. She delivered the first profitable financial result for Vista Health within a number of years, and also initiated and completed renovation projects to accommodate the increasing patient census at Vista Medical Center East.
On July 1, 2007, after being recruited by CHS, she was appointed to serve as President and CEO of the new Vista Health System. Her accomplishments since joining CHS include producing a $14 million earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in the first six months with CHS and a $6 million net income. Vista Health System offers acute care services and numerous other services including behavioral medicine, cancer services, childbirth services, community outreach, corporate health services, emergency medicine, home healthcare, rehabilitation therapy, and surgical care. As a champion for those who are underserved, Barbara strives to make sure critically needed health programs remain accessible. As surrounding medical centers discontinued inpatient behavioral health services, Vista embraced its position as the sole service provider in Lake County at Vista Medical Center West. The Vista West campus also is the sole provider in Lake County for inpatient rehabilitation.
Among her recognitions, Barbara most recently received the 2006 YWCA Lake County “Through the Glass Ceiling” Award, which recognizes women’s achievements and their efforts to provide mentoring to others. She also is the recipient of the 2007 Outstanding Community Achievement Award from the Lake County Latino Coalition for her work in building strong relationships with Latinos in order to provide healthcare services for the underserved.
Barbara is a graduate of Lockport High School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), both from Lewis University. A resident of Ivanhoe, Ill., she and her husband Douglas are the parents of two children, Terra Meyer, 28; and Kale Martin, 22. The couple has one grandson, Dylan, who is 41/2.
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