Since the first of April, what was formerly known as the Clinton County Hospital is now the Medical Center Albany.

Several changes have been made to the hospital in recent weeks and the new face behind the change is Eric Hagan, Vice President of Commonwealth Health Corporation and Interim Administrator for The Medical Center Albany.

With more than a month under the new name, the Medical Center of Albany is having an open house event where anyone and everyone is invited to attend.

The event will start Monday, May 9 at 10 a.m. and will last until 2 p.m. and will feature free health screenings, t-shirts, refreshments, door prizes and health information.

The screenings will include, blood pressure, back screening, body fat analysis, lung health screening, HbA1c (three month sugar average), stroke screening and prostate specific antigen blood test (PSA- males over 50.)

“We are excited about it,” Hagan said. “The first 200 people who show up will be getting a t-shirt and of course anyone who signs in will be registered to win a door prize. It will be a good time for people to hear about what the plans are for the hospital.”

Hagan said people who want to come out to get the screening shouldn’t be worried about fasting for different screens.

“We don’t want people to not eat before they come out here so they don’t have to worry about fasting before the HbA1c screening,” Hagan said.

Hagan started his medical career in the Army as a medic and went on from there into nursing. He later became an administrator in Scottsville and then became an administrator in Franklin County.

“I always tell people I have two jobs … my first job is to make my boss’ job easier and my second job is to help the people I work with and make their jobs easier where they can do them well,” Hagan said. “That can be anything any given day.”

Hagan said just about anything and everything can come up in his day of work from troubleshooting, looking for opportunities for improvement, opportunities to expand services, or making sure his staff is doing things at compliance.

“I’ve been known to get out there and shovel snow and put up the flag on the flag pole,” Hagan said. “That’s typically the way it is in a rural hospital.”

Before the CHC took over at the beginning of April, Hagan said it entered into a management agreement with Clinton County Hospital.

“That first week of February I came over here and started working with the management team over here,” Hagan said. “The facility has a lot of positive attributes. The new part of the hospital is in good shape, the equipment is modern and we have a lot of services already available. We have a great medical staff who is supportive of the hospital and a lot of community support. We have been welcomed with open arms.”

Getting the support of the community and the local physicians is important to Hagan. He thinks it is the key to a successful hospital.

“In a rural community, if you don’t have the support of your local physicians then you won’t be successful,” Hagan said. “You have to understand what their needs are. We will try to be a good community partner. We feel like the success of the community will contribute to the success of the hospital.”

With the new Medical Center Albany sign already in place, as well as different people in different areas of the hospital, Hagan said the transition has been pretty good so far and he expects nothing but good things for the hospital in the future.

“With any change, sometimes there are challenges, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how smooth the transition is going,” Hagan said.

Hagan contributes the smooth transition to the people who work at the hospital and the support he has from the organization that allow many resources to be used.

“As far as the care we provide, that doesn’t change,” Hagan said. “People have the same training and background regardless if you work here, Nashville, Louisville or Bowling Green. How we capture what we do or the format that we use to capture some information may be different, but we’ve had nothing but a positive reception on those changes.”

Another big positive aspect for the people of Clinton and surrounding counties is having AirEvac located in Albany.

“Sometimes it can be more difficult for a ground ambulance team to provide the service that AirEvac can,” Hagan said. “They are a great partner with us.”

When Hagan first stepped into his position as interim administrator he said the infrastructure and the way the staff operated was in good shape. One goal he had for Clinton County’s hospital was to serve a much larger area than just Clinton County.

“Our primary focus will be on Clinton County, but I think everybody will agree, including our physicians, we are thinking we have an opportunity to serve a much larger area and essentially provide services for this region,” Hagan said. “There are a lot of things we can do so people don’t have to travel as far. We have a laundry list we have started of things we can do to make care more convenient for people, not only for Clinton County, but for people in this region.”

Eric Hagan, Interim Administrator of The Medical Center Albany and Vice President of Commonwealth Health Corporation, will be on hand along with staff and several other company executives Monday during the Open House at the west Albany medical facility. Formerly the Clinton County Hospital, it was purchased by the Bowling Green based company earlier this year.