The Kindred Touch

By Robert Graham

Stephanie Madrid (MS 02, BA 00) is the Market Chief Executive Officer for Kindred Hospitals of Dallas. Kindred Healthcare is the United States’ largest and most robust post-acute and rehabilitation care provider. Kindred Healthcare has a presence in 47 states, employs roughly 60,000 individuals and cares for about the same number of patients on a daily basis. Some of Kindred Hospitals of Dallas’ key services include pulmonary and complex wound care, dialysis, ICU or special care units, IV antibiotic therapy, rehabilitation and outpatient services, outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation, pain management, and subacute unit care. Stephanie oversees the three transitional care hospitals in the Dallas, Texas region.

Stephanie matriculated through ENMU’s internationally-recognized communication disorders program at the undergraduate and master’s levels; her emphasis at the master’s level was in speech pathology. She completed a medical internship at St. Johns Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma the last year of her master’s program. “I treated a patient who had a Passy-Muir speaking valve,” Stephanie says, which is a way for patients with artificial airwaves to communicate. Stephanie returned from the internship and undertook an independent study focusing on speech and swallowing disorders in tracheostomized and mechanically ventilated patients.

Stephanie Madrid

Stephanie seamlessly transitioned from ENMU to Kindred Hospitals of Houston.

The position allowed Stephanie to put her independent study to practice. She specialized in long-term acute care where speech pathologists assists patients in the transition away from artificial breathing apparatuses. Stephanie celebrated her 12th anniversary with Kindred this January. She transitioned to her role as CEO in 2014. “My primary focus is and has always been on patient care,” Stephanie says.

The kindred touch is one that Stephanie knows well. Stephanie is a third generation ENMU graduate. Her grandmother Mary Robinson (BS 85) and her mother Christy Vines (BBA 97) walked a few steps ahead of her. Stephanie’s husband, Louie Madrid (BSE 02), is also an ENMU graduate.

Engaged in her community, Stephanie is the president of her neighborhood association and participates in alumnae activities through her sorority, Chi Omega. Stephanie and Louie are the proud parents of their four year-old daughter Julian.