THANK YOU, JON BRABAND WISHING OUR FORMER CEO THE BEST IN HIS RETIREMENT

We first met Jon D. Braband, MHA, FACHE, in July 1993 when he moved to town to become the chief executive of Glencoe Area Health Center. He stepped into a big job back then, with a 49-bed hospital, 110-bed nursing home and 40-unit senior apartment building to run, but he knew right away it was a perfect fit.

“I thought, ‘This is a great position in a wonderful community where I can stay for 10-12 years until my children graduate from high school,’” Braband remembers. “But the organization continued to grow and change, so the challenge was always there. Twenty-five years goes by mighty quick when you enjoy what you’re doing.”

Growth Years

Indeed, the organization Braband joined in 1993 has completely transformed. Under his leadership, Glencoe Area Health Center merged with the physician practice Glencoe Medical Clinic, PA, in 2000 to form Glencoe Regional Health Services (GRHS). In the years since, we have:

• Changed our capacity to 25 beds to become a designated Critical Access Hospital. This is a federal program that helps reduce financial uncertainty for rural hospitals and improves access to essential services in rural areas.

• Expanded our medical staff to 30 physicians and mid-level providers (physician assistants, nurse midwives and nurse practitioners) representing nine medical specialties.

• Continued to welcome consulting specialists to our campus, bringing the total of locally available medical specialties to 18.

• Built new clinics to replace older buildings in Glencoe (2002) and Lester Prairie (2007).

• Installed electronic medical record systems in our clinics, hospital and nursing home (2013).

• Established new services including urgent care (2014), transitional care (2014) and advanced wound care (2016).

• Added a third floor to the hospital for rehabilitation and infusion services (2016).

• Renovated the birth center (2002) and the hospital entrance, emergency room, specialty clinics and surgery department (2017).

• Completed the first phase of a three-phase project to replace our original nursing home with a new facility (2018).

Braband is quick to dodge the credit for these achievements. “Health care administrators are like orchestra conductors. They help the musicians reach consensus about what to play and provide coordination so the sounds from each instrument blend into a symphony. But during the performance, what the audience notices and appreciates is the music, not the conductor,” he says. “There are nearly 600 employees at GRHS, and they do great work.” a final word from the

by Jon D. Braband, MHA, FACHE President & CEO

I grew up in a small town in Iowa – not unlike Glencoe – where I did NOT dream of becoming a health care administrator. I wanted to be a trombone performer or a music teacher. It took just one semester as a music major at Morningside College to learn I wasn’t cut out to be either.

Then I had to put college on hold for two years of military service. Afterward, I figured out a new path for myself and transferred to the University of Iowa for a bachelor’s degree in business administration and then a master’s in health care administration.

Moving around in my early career allowed me to experience working in hospitals of various sizes in the Twin Cities and the less-metropolitan communities of Ipswich and Aberdeen, South

Retirement Plan

Braband and his wife, Jodi, have decided to stay in Glencoe for their retirement. It’s less than an hour’s drive from both of their grown children. Son Josh, an engineer, lives and works in Eden Prairie. Daughter Joy is a physical therapist in Mankato, where she lives with her husband, Brent, and 13-month-old, Aurelia Marie. Braband dotes on his granddaughter, who recently celebrated her first birthday on Grandpa’s retirement day, July 5. “She is a perfect little person,” says Braband.

The Brabands are taking their extended family on a Caribbean cruise in January, but beyond that, their retirement plans are pretty low-key and not very concrete. “I’ve always played trombone at church, but recently I’ve given some thought to joining a barbershop quartet,” he says. “Jodi and I bicycle a lot, so we might plan some bike trips.”

With gratitude to both Jon and Jodi, everyone at GRHS wishes them the very best, wherever their paths lead. We’re glad to still have them as neighbors and friends.

Dakota, and Granite Falls and Thief River Falls, Minnesota. They say you will eventually end up exactly where you’re meant to be, and so I found my way to Glencoe in 1993.

The people at GRHS are the best I’ve ever worked with. My job was enjoyable mostly due to their talent, dedication, hard work and commitment to the health and well-being of the community.

I feel truly blessed to have worked at GRHS for 25 years. I can’t imagine another place where I could have done such interesting and vital work while also having lunch with my wife just about every day and staying connected to my kids as they grew up.

As I start my next chapter, I feel that I’m exactly where I was meant to be – at home in Glencoe.