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G.B. "Sam" Serrill has a lot on his plate as the new chief operating officer of the city's second-largest hospital, Wesley Medical Center.
He comes to Wesley at a time when it and other hospitals are wrestling with a nursing shortage, decreased reimbursements from government and private health insurance programs, rapidly evolving technology and its increased costs, and competition from specialty hospitals.
On the job less than a month, the 59-year-old Minnesota native says he is undaunted by the challenges as manager of the 760-bed hospital's day-to-day operations and one of its key strategic planners.
Thirty years in health care administration has taught Serrill that change and challenge is an almost daily occurrence in the industry.
And, say his peers, Serrill is not afraid to make unpopular decisions.
"He's not afraid to do the right thing," says Steve Lauko, former CEO of The Child's Hospital in Albany, N.Y. and a friend of Serrill's for 16 years.
'Courage'
As president and CEO of Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, N.Y., for 13 years, Lauko...