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The Lakewood Ranch Medical Center isn’t the biggest hospital in the area, but that’s part of the draw for both staff and patients.
“That’s the cool aspect of it. It’s not just a corporate machine,” surgeon Samual Yelverton said. “It has a small town hospital feel, but we do wild stuff here, nothing that a small town hospital could do. We do pretty advanced things for the size of the hospital.”
Yelverton worked at larger hospitals before joining LWRMC about two years ago. He said he never had as much fun, and he certainly couldn’t text the CEO whenever he felt like it.
But that’s one of the upsides of working at a neighborhood hospital. The staff see each other regularly, and that includes CEO Andy Guz.
“In big facilities, you don’t pass the same person in the hallway,” Chief Nursing Officer Judy Young said. “The same person that brings your patient from the operating room today is the same person that’s going to bring the patient next week.”
Those regular interactions have created what Director of Quality and Accreditation Malou Kaseta called a palpable culture that draws and keeps employees.
LWRMC has the lowest turnover rate compared to any other hospitals Guz has worked for. He said there have only been two directors out of over 35 to leave in the past two years.
“That’s pretty unheard of,” he said. “Right now, our overall turnover is at the lowest it's been since pre-Covid.”
That neighborhood feeling transfers to the patients, too. Some visit more regularly than others, and the staff get to know them and vice versa.
“We had a patient who was having a birthday, and the staff really wanted to do something for her,” Young said. “But she decided that she wanted to celebrate the staff on her birthday, so she had her husband bring in their favorite flavor cupcakes.”
Kaseta said the quality of patient care is what makes LWRMC a David among Goliaths.
“The difference between a metropolis and a community feel is that every patient that comes through our door is a rock star,” she said.
Getting to know patients is the icing on the cupcake of accreditations that ensure expertise and top-quality care.
LWRMC is a certified primary heart attack center and has core certifications in knee replacements, hip replacements and sepsis, among other awards and recognitions.
“You can lose those accreditations or not get them,” Guz said. “An accreditation provides a level of accountability because now we know where we’re at, and if you don’t get better, you could lose your certifications.”
Certifications are based on the established best practices with the best outcomes for a particular surgery or disease management.
While Lakewood Ranch is celebrating its 30 year anniversary, the hospital is celebrating its 20 year anniversary.
Guz has been with LWRMC since 2016. He moved from Pennsylvania.
“The thing that stands out to me about Lakewood Ranch as a community, and for this hospital, is that no one is really from Lakewood Ranch,” Guz said. “There’s a sense of community in that with everyone. I don’t think there’s anywhere you could move, other than a huge metropolis, where people would be from as many different places as they are here.”
The medical center is undergoing an expansion. A five-story, 170,000-square-foot addition is planned to open in December 2025. The tower will increase the number of beds from 120 to 180.
“We’re adding beds because the community has the demand,” Guz said. “The organization gets bigger, but it’s all still going to be local people coming here, and we’re going to hire local people. We’re just trying to respond to what the community has asked us to do.”
