JC Colton, center, was this week's Rotary Club guest speaker. He is pictured with club President David Cairone, left, and program chair Jeanette Ender.
Colton is associate dean for Instructional Services at Weatherford College's Education Center in Mineral Wells, and chairman of the Palo Pinto County Hospital Board. He talked about serving Mineral Wells and Palo Pinto County in those capacities. Colton has served on the hospital board for 20 years and counting.
He praised his fellow hospital board members, Rotarian and Palo Pinto General Hospital CEO Harris Brooks and Rotarians and PPGH department heads Mary Braddock (human resources), Diane Brown (foundation and auxiliary) and James Fesser (nursing director) as well everyone who works at the hospital for their dedication to quality and care.
While Texas has seen a number of rural hospital closures and bankruptcies in recent years, Colton noted that PPGH – which has grown from an operating budget of $30 million in 1998 to $130 million today while adding debt-free a new professional health clinic and medical office building while growing other services – operates in the black fiscally. He said that was not the case when he first took his seat on the board, saying the hospital lost about $2.5 million a year back in the late 1990s.
Colton also spoke about meeting nationally known news reporter and former host of the morning news show "NBC Today" Ann Curry during the recent Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Awards Luncheon at the Arlington Convention Center, where he told of a "close encounter" with Fort Worth philanthropists and civic leaders Ed and Vickie Bass.
Colton is married to Margaret Hill Colton, a former Mineral Wells City Council member and mayor pro-tem who owned Hill's Style Shoppe downtown.
Join us at noon every Wednesday at Holiday Hills Country Club for lunch, networking, updates on club projects and news and a program of interest.