Area health care advocate honored by MHA

Chris Christ, a long-time local attorney, who was one of the architects for merging Community and Leila Hospitals in Battle Creek, was honored this past week with the Michigan Health & Hospital's (MHA) 2010 Health Care Leadership Award.

The award is presented annually to honor members of health care governing boards and other leaders who have provided outstanding leadership to health organizations as well as to the wellbeing of the community.

Joining Christ as 2010 award winners are Duane Mezwa, MD, corporate chief of radiology services for Beaumont Hospitals; Patricia Maryland, president and CEO of St. John Providence Health System; and A. Gary Muller, president and CEO at Marquette General Hospital.

Christ has been an integral part of BCHS from its beginning being elected the first chair of the board on which he served for a decade. He has also been active for nearly a quarter of a century with BCHS Community Health Partners, co-sponsor of BCHS along with Trinity Health.

"A man of vision who has consistently championed the delivery of equitable care, Chris Christ believes governance should broadly represent the views of medical staff, consumers, and community leaders," says Denise Brooks-Williams, president and CEO of BCHS and nominator of Christ for the award. "In addition, he helped establish and operate the Battle Creek Community Foundation's Health Fund, and with his wife Betty, led an effort creating a senior living campus (Northpointe Woods) with a progressive continuum of care, as well as The Nursing Clinic to provide care to the area's needy. There is no one more deserving than he for this award."

"Chris works hard to build community consensus through creative problem solving and unifying disparate points of view," adds Nelson Karre, also an attorney and current chair of the hospital's board of trustees. "Throughout a long and distinguished career of volunteer service, he continues to encourage innovative collaboration among area health care providers."

Based in Lansing, the MHA represents all of Michigan's community hospitals and successfully advocates on behalf of hospitals and the patients they serve.

Battle Creek Health System, sponsored by two parent organizations--Trinity Health (the fourth largest Catholic health system in the U.S. with 21 hospitals, 9 nursing homes, 19 senior house facilities, 8 home health care agencies, and 4 hospices in Michigan alone) and BCHS Community Partners, is accredited by the Joint Commission. Battle Creek Health System, a member of the Mercy Cancer Network, is a Blue Distinction Center for Knee and Hip Replacement® as designated by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network. BCHS, a nonprofit hospital, provides excellent health care for the community and promotes wellness for the whole person with access and compassion for all. For the latest medical information, visit the BCHS web site at www.bchealth.com or call the BCHS Marketing Department at (269) 966-8132.

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