Traditions BY DWAIN HEBDA | PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF STEWART FAMILY Y


ou can forgive the Stewart family of West Plains if they are a little possessive of Ozarks Heathcare. The fam-


ily has had three generations of involve- ment with the hospital ever since the foun- dation was laid. “When they began the construction of


the hospital, I was the one that dug the first footings,” said Clyde Stewart, known around here as Junior. “I was the only one that had a machine to dig footings. We bought a backhoe to put on our farm tractor. “Every phase or expansion that they had,


I was involved, doing all their site work for them. In fact, throughout the years, every time they had an expansion, our company was always involved.” Junior, who got into the excavation business working for his father Clyde Sr., passed that legacy down to his son Cary who was born at the West Plains Memorial Hospital (named 1959-1985). By the time Cary was a teenager, he was picking up the tools of his family’s trade. Today, as a third-generation owner, he can look around the Ozarks Healthcare campus and see the fruit of his family’s labors, past and present. “I’ve worked there since I was 15 years old,” Cary said. “As part of the latest


expansion, we tore out part of the parking lot that I helped haul dirt in on when I was 18. We recently tore up a parking lot that I built probably 15 years ago.” Cary sees the various expansions through


the years as a reflection of West Plains it- self. He said the health of the hospital par- allels the health of the community, no pun intended. “Ozarks Healthcare shows that West


Plains is a community that should be able to continue to grow and survive,” he said. “Our focus is not necessarily on the hos- pital as a family unit so much as it is our town. The hospital is an integral part of our town. If it weren’t for the hospital, we would have already gone the way of a lot of small communities and declined. “The hospital is really more to me than


just being proud of being part of some- thing. It’s me being a part of my town and the fact that the hospital has facilitated the town’s growth.” As if Cary and Junior haven’t applied


enough Stewart family fingerprints on the place, Cary’s wife Melissa, a local attorney, joined the Ozarks Healthcare board eight years ago. Melissa doesn’t have the length of roots in the community that her hus- band’s family does, but she’s no less proud of the hospital or any less committed to seeing it succeed.


“I see the hospital as an important pil-


lar in our community,” she said. “I’d served on the Chamber of Commerce, the library board and other things for a long time. This was the next step of helping where I could. “I did it because I thought it was an im-


portant thing to do. It’s been fascinating, and I’ve found it very rewarding and inter- esting. I’m glad I’ve done it.” Just as Junior and Cary have construct-


ed the physical elements of the hospital, Melissa is proud to play a role in the stra- tegic side of things. And on that front, she said the hospital’s future has never been brighter. “One of the things I would want people


to know is that as a board, we are looking to be the provider of choice for our com- munity,” she said. “We’re looking at being the employer of choice for our communi- ty. And we are looking at innovative ways that we can treat patients to keep people healthy. “As a board member, I’m proud of


the fact that we have leadership that’s open-minded rather than saying, ‘This is how we’ve always done it, so we’ll continue to do it that way.’ In today’s marketplace, an important dynamic to have in your overall leadership and your overall busi- ness plan is the desire to evolve and learn.”


26 | OZARKS HEALTHCARE | SUMMER 2022


Family


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44