10 Women to Watch

10 Women to Watch

by Cindy Sanders

Originally published in Nashville Medical News May 2007

Nancy West, President and CEO

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our second annual feature celebrating 10 dedicated women who have made a significant impact on the delivery of healthcare in Middle Tennessee and beyond. Our descriptions of these women’s accomplishments will undoubtedly provide the answers as to why these women are recipients of this honor. Certainly though, we recognize there are also many other talented, intelligent women making a difference in our community every day. If we missed someone you thought should have been included, please have patience ... we’ll look for you to nominate them next spring when we once again agonize over how to narrow a long list of outstanding healthcare professionals down to just 10 terrific women.

Passionate …

That one adjective could be universally applied to the otherwise diverse group of healthcare professionals selected for this year’s “Ten Women to Watch” feature.

As we spoke with them, it became immediately evident that each is incredibly passionate about her chosen field and excited about her role in turning a “possibility” into “reality.” For each of these dynamic women, the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of patient care and maximize outcomes … whether it is through conducting research, creating public policy and programming, educating tomorrow’s healthcare leaders, reaching out to underserved populations or overseeing a medical facility.

By joining together the powerful combination of knowledge and passion … and adding a dash of pragmatic humor along the way … these 10 women are shaping the way we deliver healthcare in our community, our state, and beyond.

Nancy West, President and CEO of Siloam Family Health Center: Nancy West vividly remembers what Siloam Family Health Center was like when she joined the faith-based, nonprofit organization in 1998.

“We were open four hours a week and were seeing maybe six to eight uninsured patients at each session,” she said of the Monday evening and Saturday morning clinic times staffed by a handful of volunteers operating out of 1,000 square feet of space in the Edgehill community.

“I had been doing consulting work and loved the freedom it gave me. I never thought I’d be willing to give up that freedom, but this small clinic was an amazing story waiting to be told, and I knew that I had to tell it,” she recalled.

For the past decade, Nancy West has been telling Siloam’s story to anyone who will listen. In October 2005, the group moved out of their original space and into a new 12,000 square-feet facility. West said they are on track to have 15,000 patient encounters this year, and the “handful of volunteers” has increased to a pool of 500 plus a staff of 24.

Although there has been phenomenal growth, the basic story remains the same as when Siloam opened its doors in 1991 … this has always been a place where the underserved, often foreign-born, can come to receive compassionate, quality healthcare.

Shortly after Siloam launched, TennCare came along and provided an alternative for many lower income Nashvillians. Then a Vietnamese gentleman found the center and began telling others.

“Today our patients come from more than 100 homelands,” West noted. She added that because Siloam relies predominantly upon individuals, churches and foundations for financial support, caring for an uninsured patient population could often be overwhelming.

“Prayer is really what sustains us as we deal with patients with few, if any, resources,” she said. With the larger clinic space, West is now eager to offer even more services. “We want to expand our programs with behavioral health and pastoral care so we’re meeting our patients’ needs not just physically but emotionally and spiritually,” she explained.

“I am energized by bringing together people from our community who graciously give their time, talents and dollars to do this amazing work.”