During the local ceremony, Barton was surprised when the atrium of Doctors Office Building 2, the home of many public events like Sunday’s, was renamed the Larry Barton Atrium.
Barton, who served the hospital for 21 years from 1992 to 2013, was touched by the tribute. “They did a good job of keeping it a secret,” he said. “I’m honored.”
Baptist Health Paducah president William A. Brown said the hospital owes much to Barton’s leadership.
“The heart center, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the doctor’s office buildings, even the re-routing of Kentucky Avenue to Washington Street, none of it would have been possible without his leadership,” Brown said.
A plaque in the lobby was unveiled Sunday, noting Barton’s accomplishments, making $118 in facility improvements and starting the Baptist Health Foundation Paducah while transforming healthcare in the region and embodying the hospital’s Christian mission.
Brown, who succeeded Barton and also serves as Baptist Health’s West regional executive, outlined the history of the system and the Paducah hospital. “Our mission has not changed: to exemplify our Christian heritage of providing quality health care by enhancing the health of the people in the communities we are privileged to serve,” he said.
The Baptist Health system began with the 150-bed Kentucky Baptist Hospital in downtown Louisville in 1924, followed by the opening in 1953 of the 117-bed Western Baptist Hospital in Paducah and in 1954 of the 173-bed Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington. In 1968, the three hospitals joined formally when they formed Baptist Hospitals Inc.
Baptist Health, headquartered in Louisville, now owns seven acute-care hospitals with more than 2,100 licensed beds in Corbin, La Grange, Lexington, Louisville, Madisonville, Paducah and Richmond. All of them changed their names to Baptist Health in 2013 to reflect their system unity.
Baptist Health also manages Hardin Memorial Hospital in Elizabethtown and Russell County Hospital in Russell Springs.
For 90 years, Baptist Health has stood for high-quality care, patient satisfaction and nursing excellence. Baptist has grown its physician network to more than 450 employed physicians and more than 1,600 independent physicians. In addition to hospitals, Baptist Health includes urgent care and retail-based clinics, home health care, outpatient diagnostic and surgery centers, occupational medicine and physical therapy clinics, fitness centers and a health maintenance organization (HMO), Bluegrass Family Health.
Article written by Angie Kinsey Timmons, Baptist Health Paducah.
