Features Editor

The newly appointed chief executive officer of Edge Regional Medical Center was in Troy Tuesday and met briefly with the hospital’s interim administration and visited with several members of the hospital’s board of directors.

Benton (Ben) Busbee will begin work at the hospital Aug. 19 and, for him, coming to Troy will be both a reunion and a homecoming.

Busbee and his wife, Paula, have four daughters at Troy State University, making his appointment to ERMC a reunion of sorts.

"I’ve seen my daughters around several times while I’ve been here," Busbee said with a proud father smile. "It will be nice to be here where they are."

The Busbees also have three sons, so although the family won’t all be living under the same roof, they will be a part of the same community again.

As for "coming home," Busbee is a graduate of Troy State University, and the couple has many friends in the Troy area.

"Community Health Systems operates 60 hospitals and, if I could have picked a place where I wanted to go, Troy would have been one of my top selections," Busbee said. "From my years as a student here, we have many friends and some of them have already looked us up. It’s like coming home and we hope that Troy will be our home. We look forward to being a part of the hospital’s family and the community."

Busbee is a native of Mobile and has 23 years experience in managing health care facilities.

His interest in a career in health care services began while he was serving in the Air Force.

Busbee was in the ROTC program at Troy State and, after graduation, served 11 years in the Air Force. Much of that time was spent in the medical service corps.

"That’s when I became interested in the health care field," he said. "But, in the 11 years, we moved seven times and that was enough."

Busbee wanted a place to put down roots, but he wasn’t ready to give up the military life completely, so he enlisted in reserves and continued to serve there for 12 years.

His most recent experience in hospital administration was as assistant CEO of Woodland Medical Center in Cullman where he supervised a 100-bed acute care health facility. He also held senior leadership positions at Springhill Memorial Hospital in Mobile and Mercy Medical Hospital in Daphne.

Busbee said his appointment to ERMC is an honor.

"To come into a position of responsibility at a hospital like Edge Regional Medical Center is an honor," he said. "A hospital is only as good as its people and the staff at Edge is outstanding. I am looking forward to getting to know each one of them and to work with them."

Busbee described himself as an out-and-about administrator, not one who confines himself to a desk.

The medical staff and the hospital staff are the ones who make the hospital work, Busbee said, and he wants their input and will solicit it.

"They are the ones who make it happened and I want to know what they think, whether it be good, bad or indifferent," he said. "I want Edge Regional Medical Center to be the place people want to go for health care. To do that, I need the input of the medical staff and the senior staff so I can get a feel for what we need to do to make that happen."

Busbee said the reception he has received has been overwhelming.

"The people make the difference and I’m sure that our experience here is going to be a positive one," he said.

The Busbee family will be familiar faces in the community. Paula Busbee will teach special education at Charles Henderson High School and their two younger sons will be students at Troy Elementary School.

Busbee enjoys a round of golf when time permits, but, if given a choice, he would rather do something with his family.

"I’m a family man," he said. Now, he has an extended family at ERMC and a new home in Troy. "And, I couldn’t be happier."