Ballad Health shares procedure updates during panel at JC Chamber breakfast

The Johnson City Chamber of Commerce and Ballad Health hosted a membership breakfast at Grace Meadows Farm on Wednesday morning to give updates on recent projects and procedures being conducted by the healthcare system. David Nelson, chair of the Chamber, kicked off the meeting by announcing a new program for chamber members to form relationships and better their connections with one another called "Chamber Matching." "This is a system that allows you to meet and match with people that are at chamber breakfasts, chamber events and really anytime you're connected with the chamber," Nelson said. "It works in a very simple way … After you set that profile up, you're then able to set who you want to meet today. You can meet by interests, by job titles, what you're looking for in mentorship, anything." Following Nelson, Johnson City Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Beck updated attendees about the $72 million investment to expand the emergency department of the JCMC. "We recently completed phase one of the expansion, which included a lot of preparational work to help us accommodate the construction while keeping our hospital accessible to our patients and visitors," Beck said. Some of these changes, said Beck, include a valet partnership with Beacon Hill Hospitality Group, which will remain available throughout the project, as well as moving some of the parking around for ADA accommodations. The discharge suite for patients has also been moved to the opposite side so they can be picked up at the heart hospital entrance. Beck added recent construction has now moved into phase two, and phase three is expected to begin in 2027. After her update, she introduced Dr. Beth Jackson, practicing surgeon and chief medical officer for the Johnson City Medical Center. Jackson gave meeting participants information on the services the JCMC offers, including advancements in the surgical oncology program and neurosurgical care. She also highlighted certain new procedures conducted at JCMC, including hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy and hepatic artery infusion, which she credited were brought to the region by the team of Dr. Jennifer Whittington, surgical oncologist at JCMC. "These are highly specialized treatments for patients with abdominal cancers and they give our patients additional treatment options that simply weren't available here before," said Jackson. Jackson said Dr. Alessandra Cathel, neurosurgeon at JCMC, and her team also performed the region's first awake brain tumor resection — or awake craniotomy. She explained the operation allows surgeons to map critical areas of the brain while the patient is awake, helping the surgeon team to remove as much of the tumor as safely possible while protecting important functions such as language and movements. Jackson added the procedure is another milestone for the region and the type of care patients can receive. "These are the kinds of advancements that demonstrate what is possible when you bring together talented physicians, advanced technology and a highly skilled clinical team, and that's really what we're focused on at the Johnson City Medical Center – continuing to build the level of specialty care that our community deserves," Jackson said. After introducing Cathel and Whittington, they were brought to the stage with Jackson and participated in a small panel discussion. Jackson asked each of them a series of questions regarding their work, the technology behind the procedures and their personal care for the patients in the region. When the women were asked what about the region incites the decisions behind their work, each shared the goal is to offer the best treatment possible for each person in their care. "I want to be able to offer things that people associate necessarily with Duke or Vanderbilt here," said Cathel. "We need to offer [patients] the same kind of options that they do, and we are. We can give more wholesome and more unified care as a unit." "To know that everyone in the community is really invested in providing the resources to support all the patients in the community and offer these complex services, it's really an honor to be back and here it's part of my journey to want to do this," said Whittington. "It's almost just a dream to offer this to our community."