Meghan McCarthy’s office is as bright and cheery as her buoyant personality.
Meghan McCarthy Director of Community Health & Wellness, Baptist Hospital
What is it about living in Northwest Florida that has prepared you for this position? My husband is in the military and we lived in San Diego until we got orders to move to Pensacola three years ago. I met with Darlene Stone, vice president of human resources at Baptist, and she told me there was a new CEO named Mark Faulkner, who had some amazing goals for community, public, and population health management. I was able to hit the ground running with the support of Baptist, who gave me the building to start the Healthy Lives Wellness Center. Then my sister told me to join the Junior League and now, three years later, I’m the president. I’m also on the board for the Institute of Women in Politics. A lot of the individuals for Leadership Florida serve on different boards and committees, because the goal is to work together and form connections that help us go back to our communities and make great things happen in Florida. I always say San Diego was a great place to live because it’s one of those places where you are accidentally healthy. Since Escambia County is one of the least healthy counties in the state, my vision is that Pensacola will become the “San Diego” of the south.
What are you hoping to contribute to LeaF? What most leaders do is bring to the table their unique area of expertise. For me, I always try to be the voice at the table for health. People are our most valuable asset and we cannot have a strong economy without a strong, healthy workforce. When we get a copy machine it comes with a maintenance plan, but we don’t always do that with our own bodies. However, health care can be expensive and a lot of small businesses cannot afford to give employees the best care, and some workers make too much money to be covered by our federal safety net. My job at Healthy Lives is to minimize financial risk by increasing productivity for the individual and business without increasing cost, so health care works on a very practical level. The idea with Leadership Florida is while individual leaders like myself operate locally, we continue to think globally, too.
What is the biggest issue facing the state? Health care will continue to be a huge discussion across the board. The American Dream shouldn’t be stifled by health care. You can’t work hard to get great health insurance, because if you’re an entrepreneur and you start your own business by working hard you aren’t guaranteed good health insurance. Unfortunately, that’s not how our system works. As the system is now, you either work for a big company to get good insurance, or fall below the poverty line to be covered by a state health program. So, I firmly believe we need to make sure health care supports the American Dream.
nwflbusinessclimate.com | Business Climate | 55