Former hospital president dies at 71
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on October 5, 2016 10:03 AM
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James Hubbell
James Hubbell is being remembered as a visionary who advanced health care in Wayne County during during the 13 years he was president and CEO of Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Hubbell died at his home on Saturday.
He was 71.
Born in Washington, D.C., he moved to Goldsboro to take over administrative duties at the hospital in Jan. 1987 and served there until 2000.
"He really helped us start a lot of community outreach programs. He was ahead of his time," said Jana Blackman, director of health promotion at Wayne Memorial. "He helped us start WISH (school-based health centers) and WATCH (providing health care for the uninsured).
"He was there when we started the school nurse program and when we built the west wing addition to the hospital. Just lots and lots of other projects.
Kim Anderson, director of executive staff services at the hospital, worked with him for about five years.
"He was a wonderful boss. He was a good person," she said. "He was a great teacher. I learned so much from him.
"In his leadership style he was a teacher. I learned a great deal from him and I appreciate the things he taught me, his patience with me, helping me learn health care."
Mary Bartlett, now vice president for finance and CFO at 3HC, was director of finance at Wayne Memorial and worked with Hubbell the entire time he was there.
"I think the world of Jim Hubbell, that's the first thing," she said. "He was a very visionary leader. He led the efforts to expand the hospital.
"When he got there you had the original tower, the west wing did not exist. We had no bond debt at the time and we had to prepare to go to the bond market."
A lot of new ground was forged during Hubbell's tenure, Mrs. Bartlett said.
"They did about a $30 million bond to expand the west wing," she said. "They got a new E.R., a new day surgery center, a new labor and delivery and women's and infants center. And then the third floor was the ICU, with 12 ICU beds."
That was in the early 1990s, she recalled.
"That was a huge project because at the time there had not been any major work done on that building since they moved in in 1970," she said.
"It moved Wayne Memorial into a modern hospital that the patients were able to get more services here locally."
Hubbell's vision went beyond buildings, she said -- "It was proving good patient care for everybody."
"I think by upgrading the medical equipment that was available in Wayne County that provided an opportunity for patients to have that care locally," she said. "We recruited a lot of physicians during his time, specialty physicians.
"We just all respected Jim Hubbell tremendously. Jim was very energetic in his work and was always well read. He knew what was happening in the industry."
United Way of Wayne County director Steve Parr remembers Hubbell dressing up as Uncle Sam on tall stilts, walking around entertaining people at the 1991 campaign kickoff. Hubbell was the campaign chairman that year, as well as being on the board for three years.
"During his year as chairman, the campaign raised $824,000, which was an 8.6 percent increase over the previous years," Parr said. "We have fond memories of Jim and his leadership during his time on the board."