What turns a kid from the tobacco fields near Bunn into the CEO of UNC Health Johnston? Why did one guidance counselor and a single day at WakeMed change everything? How do you go from Durham Tech to leading a health system by what he calls accident? In part one, Tom Williams shares the small choices that shaped a big career, the community that made him stay, and the expansion ahead, including a new patient tower in Clayton. If healthcare is local, what does growth really look like on the ground in Johnston County?

His time working in a respiratory therapist and how he evolved into hospital administration as his career moved on and why he decided to get in the hospital administration and he actually says. It was kind of by accident. We also talked to him a little bit about the expansion plans, including a brand new patient tower behind the hospital in Clayton.

So if you're interested in Johnston, UNC Johnson Health and where it's going, you're gonna enjoy this podcast. So listen in.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of the best of Johnston County podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Breeden, and on today's episode we have the CEO of UNC Health Johnston, Tom Williams. He we're gonna do two episodes of him. In this first episode, we're gonna talk to him a little bit about his background as a respiratory therapist, how he got into the hospital administration business.

The consolidation of healthcare the certificate of need laws in healthcare and stuff like that. So be checking in on that one in a couple weeks when we get his answers on some of those. But before we get to that, I'd like to ask you to like, follow and subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media channels of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. The Best of Johnston County Podcast comes out every single Monday and has now for right at two years, and we had a lot of great guests. And so if you love Johnston County as much as I do, this is the podcast for you.

Welcome Tom.

Tom Williams: Glad to be here. Thank you for asking.

Jonathan Breeden: Thank you. I, I appreciate you coming. I, when I saw April cover at the Jane Now Awards Bank one of the Jane Now awards receptions back in July. I'm like. April, I need you to come be on my podcast. She was like, not me. And she's like, I was like, well, you gotta get me somebody from the hospital.

Tom Williams: Well, she knows I love to run my mask.

Jonathan Breeden: Exactly what it's, well, the other thing is I know she's an attorney and a lot of people don't know that, but she probably was smarter than the rest of us that never actually practiced law.

Tom Williams: Yeah. She's

Jonathan Breeden: or didn't practice for very long.

Tom Williams: She is a wake forest attorney, but we did not hold that against her.

Jonathan Breeden: I just, I'm always asking her like, you sure you don't wanna come back and practice law? I've always got a job. And she's like, I don't wanna practice law.

Tom Williams: I can't believe you're right here to start and trying to recruit some of my best friends.

Jonathan Breeden: I know, right? She's like, she does not wanna practice law. So anyway tell the audience what's your name and what you do.

Jonathan Breeden: Sure. I mean, I mean everybody, I love those stories. I really do.

A lot of people know where that's at. And, and that is where I call home now. I grew up, my dad, he worked with the Department of Transportation. My mom worked for an agriculture extension agency outta Lewisburg, and my dad was also a farmer. So I grew up prime and tobacco. And working on a farm every day to the week.

And when, and I was in high school, I was fortunate, I was a really good student and I actually applied to NC State and UNC and Appalachian State and got accepted. But I had no idea what I wanted. I was like, any of them, you know, like, I'm getting outta school, whatcha gonna do, right. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

But someone the school guidance counselor there at Bunn High School sat down with me when I was a senior and she was like, whatcha gonna do with your life? I don't know. Gonna school. She said, you don't wanna be a farmer? And I was like, no, don't think so. And she said, well, you should look into respiratory therapy.

So that's what kind of started me off in healthcare.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, man, that's wild. And you went to Durham Tech? I think I did to get that respiratory therapy.

Tom Williams: Will say this. That because I know some of your listeners may know Sam Thornton. Sam Thornton lives in Four Oaks. He's a respiratory therapist and he works with us at Clayton.

And he's our manager of cardiopulmonary services now. He was the young respiratory therapist that they put me with that day. And I shadowed with him and, and now he and I work together.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, how about that?

Tom Williams: Which is just incredible kind of it's funny how things circle back around. Right.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and you got started with a, a two year associate's degree.

Tom Williams: I did.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. That's how you got your first job.

I was actually 17 years old when I graduated high school. And 'cause I have a late birthday in October. So being 17 and you know, you're, I was a knothead like most young 17 year olds are, and, but, but you know, kind of, it woke me up. It grew me up put me on a track. I think that matured me and I learned so much about, yeah, I, I tell everybody.

Community college is the best deal going.

Jonathan Breeden: Absolutely.

Tom Williams: It's the best deal going,

When I was on the board seven or eight years ago, it was like. 4,200. So, I mean, it's so much bigger than it, than it was. And with it's really amazing and I learned so much about everything that, that Johnston Community College did and the community and, you know, big support. I'm glad you're on that board because you know, we needed people from all the different industries, you know, and, and that, that's great.

And I'm. Big believer in JCC and what it does, the tuition, if you're a, if you're a Johnston County High School graduate is free for the first two years.

Tom Williams: Free. The Commissioner's promise.

Jonathan Breeden: The Commissioner's promise. And you know, and then you can go get your four year degree somewhere else. 'cause you did not immediately get a four year degree, I don't think. I think you started working and went back to West Land.

Tom Williams: I did.

Jonathan Breeden: 20 years later. Right.

So it worked out perfect for me. I worked on weekends. I went to school during the week and then I, that was my plan. You know, I come out, be a respiratory therapist, and then later on, my first job wasn't Wake Med. I worked there and. And worked for a while. Then I decided, well, you know, I probably should go back and finish my four year degree.

So then I started searching around and deciding, and, and I, I felt like the West Land program was worked out perfect. You local, Rocky Mount? I was born in Rocky Mount, so I felt like, well, that's a good fit for me. I got my business degree there. Not 'cause anybody asked me to, but it's just something I wanted to do.

I wanted to learn, just keep expanding my knowledge and West Land was fantastic college and I learned a lot there. And then when I got out from that, and it took me a while 'cause I'm taking one in two classes at the time. I got married along the way, had two kids along the way and, and my wife used to to joke.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Tom Williams: And so you, you're working trying to do all those schedules and then later on also, when I got out and got my bachelor's degree on business, I said, well, I would like to get an MHA and this's where

Jonathan Breeden: right

Tom Williams: they had no way to pfeiffer for that.

Jonathan Breeden: Pfeiffer. Okay. Did you do that one online?

Tom Williams: So,

Jonathan Breeden: because Pfeiffer's not around here.

Tom Williams: They started, they had classes out in RTP.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, I didn't know that.

Tom Williams: So I would go out there. When I got off work, at that time, I was working at Rex Hospital. So I would leave class, leave work, and then go out there in the evenings from six to nine. I was probably about halfway finished, and then they started the online classes.

That that was a godsend because then I was taking, I could do some classes in person. But also do some online and I was able to knock it out.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. And so at MHA is a Master's of Health Administration.

Tom Williams: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Which is I guess how you started to get into hospital administration, but even before you had the MHA, I think you were already starting to do some hospital supervision type work.

Tom Williams: Yeah, I worked of course at WakeMed for a while, and then I left and went to Raleigh Community Hospital, which is now DUKE, Raleigh. I worked there for 10 years. I was director of Respiratory Care and Special Diagnostics.

It included heart and vascular services, echocardiography stress test, and EEG sleep lab. And, but I, you know, I was a working manager, you know, I covered those areas as well as managed it and then went from there. DUKE had a program big DUKE University and we call it Big DUKE, DUKE University at the time where they were training respiratory therapists to sit on ECMO, which is the heart, lung machines.

The profusionists were trained in respiratory for patients that were needing heart transplant. So it was in a pediatric program and it was just, it was a itch. I had to scratch. I had to do it, I wanted to do it. It was something that I could learn it, something I'd never done before. I went and interviewed for that job.

You go somewhere else. Valid question. I, I wanted to learn, I wanna expand. I wanna do something else. So I did that. Learned ECMO became ECMO certified there at DUKE. Worked in at pediatric ICU for several years. Really enjoyed that. Interestingly enough, my wife and I, she, she's a nurse. We were living in Cary.

Then we decided we wanted to move back and get out in the country. So my dad at the time, he offered us some land that was farmland. That was my granddaddy's. So we went back and built a house out there. It was an hour drive back and forth at Durham. I was like, I was working night shift. I was like, I can't do it.

Tom Williams: Yes.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. I don't remember when that sort of

Tom Williams: yes

Jonathan Breeden: started the merger, which ended up Johnston Health sort of merging UNC too. I know it was about that time, you know. So, well that's interesting. So why did you decide to move away from patient care?

Jonathan Breeden: That's right. You're gonna work for free. Absolutely.

Jonathan Breeden: So why did you take the job? I mean, you were the second, you were number two at Rex, I think. Well, you're number one at UNC Johnston Health. I mean, I guess this is a promotion, but I mean, you were gonna have to come out here, new county, new employees, you know, developing system.

Tom Williams: It was all that. But I was vice president of ambulatory

Jonathan Breeden: right

I called up Mr. Kyle McDermott here at Johnston and said, well, can I come to Clayton because Clayton was open and that's 50 bed hospital.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Tom Williams: I said, I really just wanna spend a day there, walk it. Talk to all your teammates there. Ask them questions. What do you like, what do you dislike? What would you change about the design?

Because we wanted to build off of what they knew at Clayton and put it in Holly Springs. So I spent the day here and when I literally, when I left that day and I got home, I told my wife, I said, you know what I said. Those folks over there at Johnston, the nicest people I've ever seen and worked with, I said, I bugged them and asked them a thousand questions.

Nobody told me to hit the road. I know how busy they were. Very kind to me, very nice to me, answered all my questions. I was like it. It was a feeling of family. And, and, and I couldn't get away from it. And I said, what the, what a, what a great group of people. I said, if something ever comes open at Johnston, I'm probably gonna put my name in that hat.

Jonathan Breeden: Yep.

Tom Williams: And he told me he was gonna retire. And so it, the, the initial conversation with UNC and Steve Burris, who's my boss at the time, I said, you know, I said, I don't know what y'all's plans are for the next CEO there at Johnston, but if there's a opportunity to do an interim role, I'd like to do that. 'Cause one I'd learned a lot. But I would like to connect and, and be down there and I'd still continue to work on this Holly Springs Hospital. So that's what I did. And I got to meet, you know, the board members I talked to. Dr. Janice was my first, he was the board chair at the time. And same thing, each and every board member I met with, it was just, we we're so fortunate because we had board members, members of the community give their time. Love that hospital, love this community. They just, you know, embraced me. And I just, and, and I literally, when I started there, I came back to Steve. I said, oh, I'm totally gonna apply for that job. You know, I, that's, that's where I belong.

Tom Williams: We did. And of course, in that process. You know, COVID hit, we started that, started through that. I don't wanna talk about COVID. It gives me PTSD.

Jonathan Breeden: No, it was a lot, lot.

Tom Williams: I'll say a funny thing happened. I, I had been on the job for, let's see, I came in November or so, it was like March, April, may, June we started and all the shutdowns and all the issues and every, and that time period.

And I remember I was walking in one of our environmental services teammates, and he was like, Hey, he said, you're the new interim. CEO. I was like, yeah, I am. He was like, why, why would you take a job like that here when COVID is kicking off? I kind of thought to myself, I went to an answer and I thought, I, I don't know if I got a good answer.

And it, it, you, you're already accountable, but that holds you more accountable.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Tom Williams: And, and nothing makes me happier for, you know, I'll be at work and somebody will call my cell phone or text me and they'll say, Hey, Tommy, my, my neighbor, my uncle, my aunt, you know, my brother is in the hospital, he's in room such and such. Will you go by and check on them? That's what I like to do, you know?

Jonathan Breeden: That's awesome.

Jonathan Breeden: Right? Right.

Tom Williams: What makes you happy is working with our teammates that are so dedicated and working with those patients that are there, that we are responsible for.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

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Tom Williams: So we are 100% owned by UNC, but we are Johnston Health Services Corporation and Johnston Health includes not only the two hospitals, but also our SECU Hospice House. It also includes a lot of outpatient clinics.

If you go to the medical mall, all of our outpatient diagnostics that are over there, wound care, radiology it includes our early learning center that we have also our Health Quest, the wellness center that we have and also in part kind of includes a lot of the clinics because we have specialty clinics here two ways.

We're we are responsible for all of them and, and right now about $11 million of the hospital budget goes to support. Growth and expansion and the work we're doing in our outpatient clinics as well.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Well, and, and you know, I've been fortunate enough to go to you know, the, the ENT there across from the Clayton Hospital and also, if I have to go to urgent care, I go to that UNC urgent Care right there across from the Clayton Hospital as well. And they always do a good job for, for me there. And you don't have to wait forever and everybody's really nice. And so, and I know they got rheumatology in that, that, that office there across from the hospital as well.

And then there's, there's cardiologists and stuff in the building next to the hospital, right? So there's, there's all kinds of, and UNC is responsible for, for all of all of that as well. I'm right about that. Right? That's what you're talking about, right?

Tom Williams: Yeah. Yeah. Correct.

Jonathan Breeden: It's all under the umbrella

All of these, we have our urology as well. But and again, I probably. I apologize. I'm probably leaving out some of those guys. But, but we we have a PSA with them and the reason that is, it, it, it can be difficult for a, a small community hospital to recruit and you have to recruit now nationwide to really attract, because there's so much demand for not only primary care docs for apps and nurse practitioners.

So we, we, we gotta recruit nationally. It's easier to recruit, you know, with as UNC and as Rex and as all of us together recruiting these specialty physicians. If you're graduating from UNC and I tell you, oh, you're gonna come and join a one or two member practice in Smithfield, you might be like, eh, I don't know.

I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. But if I tell you, okay, you're part of UNC and it's a 14 member group and you know, or more, I mean, some of those groups are 40 members but you're gonna be practicing in Clayton and Smithfield. You feel better about that 'cause you got a team behind you and it's a little bit easier to recruit.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I understand how hard it is to recruit. I mean, we all, we all need talent. We had Stacy Beard from Novo Nordisk here a few weeks ago. All she kept saying through both episodes we did with her is we're hiring, we're hiring, we're hiring. And you're all, you're hiring that too, right? I mean it's, I mean we're all, it's all about talent, right? I mean, we're all trying to get talent.

Why? Because it's people that are listening to this. Johnston County is growing the way it is, right? So we are just trying to keep up. That's why, you know, selfishly, that's why I got involved with JCC and on their board. I'm interested in what they do because. We will take everything that comes out of that.

I've told Dr. Linquist, I want every one of your nurses, I want 'em all right. We, we hired, we hired 42 new grads this past year, 42, and it wasn't enough. So, and we hire from s Samson community college, you know, all, all surrounded. Wake may have to tell you the same thing. DUKE could tell you the same thing.

I mean, I, I, you know, I had traffic issues getting here as well today, right? I, I, so we all fuss about the traffic and the growth. I mean, there were, there were fields I passed fields coming here today that I used to bird hunt with my, with my father-in-law. It's houses now, you know, and that's troubling.

But, you know, that's, but also think about. I got colleagues in the UNC system that their county's going the other way.

Jonathan Breeden: Correct.

Tom Williams: And, and they're trying to figure out how are we gonna keep a hospital open? How am I even going to get an OB doctor to staff this? Right. They're asking how well, and we are like we're growing and expanding, how are we gonna get enough people into staff our expansion needs? Well, it, that's the problem.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and I'm from scotland County, right. And Scotland County has been losing population over the years. It has a great hospital there. And but it's the same thing, like how do you.

You know, and they're closing schools because they don't have enough kids to be in the schools where we can't build enough schools in Johnston County.

Tom Williams: Yeah.

And we don't have time to get into all that. And Medicaid expansion won't get into all that on, you know, well in this,

Tom Williams: but you might to keep this podcast positive. So

Jonathan Breeden: we're not gonna talk about that. No, we're gonna get all that. But I mean, but, but one of the last questions for this first episode, and we're gonna do a second one, so if we listen back in a couple weeks for the next one, is. What are the expansion plans for UNC Health here in Johnston County? I know they're gonna do something with the hospital in Clayton, but I don't know what.

Tom Williams: Yeah, so, a couple of things are on board right now, and other expansion, we've already did, we just finished up this past year, our behavioral health unit in Smithfield. We were 20 beds, we're now 26 beds. With that, and then, so coming up in Clayton right now. We were successful. We petitioned the state and I know we're gonna talk about CON next time for 24 more beds, which we were successful in getting after a couple of years of working through that. So we are in the design phase for that now but a couple of things, and that includes both Clayton and also Smithfield.

So, so that's planned. And then also, probably more importantly, and what your listeners are interested in we're gonna put 12 of our 24 beds, new licensed med-surg beds in Clayton. We have plans, we're in design phase right now for a new three story tower. That is behind the existing tower and we will do a consolidation of women's services.

So all that's in the works. And then the other 12 beds that we got CON approved for. We would do some internal renovation in Smithfield and expand to add 12 PCU level beds, which are monitored beds, and that's for those patients there. Little bit too sick to be on med-surg floor and not be monitored, but they're not quite sick enough to be in intensive care unit.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh,

Tom Williams: so there's a monitor.

Jonathan Breeden: So in between,

Tom Williams: kind of in between PCU Progressive care unit, basically this means you're on a monitored bed.

I say it's similar to Russia, socialism and we'll talk about next time. But they can't just do this hospital that they want. They have to get permission. And of course when they go ask for permission, their competitors in the market try to convince the state that they're not needed and try to stop them.

And I'm just glad that my competitors that do divorce law in Johnston County can't stop me from adding new attorneys and new services to my law firm. But anyway, the last question we ask everybody on these podcasts is, you've already alluded to it all the way through. What do you love most about Johnston County?

The people is what matters because like I said, I grew up in southern tip of Franklin County. He embraced me when I came here. I'll never forget Mr. Ted Godwin, I was interviewing with him, County Commissioner. He sits on our board.

Jonathan Breeden: Yep.

Tom Williams: We talked a lot about growing tobacco and growing up on a farm and you know, kind of who I am and where I came from. And he looked at me and he said, I'll support you because you're one of us. And I gotta tell you, I think about that a lot. And it meant more to me probably than anything anybody's ever said to me in an interview because I felt like this is home.

Tom Williams: Yeah. So, anyway, well, we'd like to thank Tom Williams for coming on to this episode of The Best of Johnston County podcast. He is the CEO of UNC Health Johnston. Like we said earlier, we're gonna do a second episode, so we checking back in a couple weeks for that when we're gonna talk to him more about stupid of need and some other things going on with UNC Health. If you like this episode, please give us a five star review and share it with your friends and family members.

Tag us at your Instagram stories, best of Johnston County. 'Cause the way this podcast is gonna grow is by you sharing and commenting and letting other people know about The Best of Johnston County Podcast. If you love Johnston County as much as I do, this is a podcast for you. Thanks for listening.

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