Episode 92 · Michael Keleman · September 14, 2025
Michael Keleman talks about healthcare in Humboldt from the inside: what Providence is doing locally, what it takes to serve a rural community, and why some of the work here feels bigger than the county line. He and Scott also get into the realities of access, recruitment, and the mix of care that lives at St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial.
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What this episode covers
- Michael’s role as chief executive for Providence Health serving Humboldt
- The hospitals, medical group, and imaging center that make up the local care network
- Why Humboldt can feel rural and metropolitan at the same time
- Access, recruitment, and the challenge of bringing more providers into the county
- A look at major services and specialties available locally, including trauma, NICU, and neurosurgery
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Transcript
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Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast, with my new best friend, Michael Keleman.
Scott Hammond: Hi, Michael.
Michael Keleman: Hey, Scott. How are you?
Scott Hammond: How's it going?
Michael Keleman: Fantastic. Beautiful day.
Scott Hammond: Beautiful day. You know, it is not that beautiful, but it's warm
Scott Hammond: and muggy.
Michael Keleman: Actually, sir, from where I come from, it's beautiful. Uh, there's no wildfires. I'm not sweating. I'm doing quite well.
Scott Hammond: That's right, yeah. No, I heard Medford's kinda smoky up in Oregon. Uh, where'd you come from?
Michael Keleman: Uh, that's a loaded question. So, um-
Scott Hammond: First of all, who are you?
Michael Keleman: Oh.
Scott Hammond: What are you doing on this podcast?
Michael Keleman: Shh, shh. Who, who- I don't know, man, you just grabbed me off the street.
Scott Hammond: Drive right in this way.
Michael Keleman: Um, so as you said, I'm, I'm Michael Keleman. I'm the chief executive for Providence Health serving Humboldt-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Michael Keleman: … which is, uh, St. Joseph and Redwood Memorial.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: Um, we also have a medical group, uh, about 200 or so physicians, and a outpatient imaging center, et cetera.
Michael Keleman: Um, my home's the Bay Area. I, I grew up in the Bay. That's where all my memories are.
Michael Keleman: Um-
Scott Hammond: Nice
Michael Keleman: … I've lived all around the Bay, and it will always be my home.
Scott Hammond: Cool.
Michael Keleman: Um, but I have lived in Sacramento, um, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Luis Obispo. I've really traversed-
Scott Hammond: Oh
Michael Keleman: … the coast of California.
Scott Hammond: Did you call it San Luis Obispo?
Michael Keleman: Yeah, Slo.
Scott Hammond: Slo.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I, um, I love the Bay Area.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I got two new hips from Stanford 13 years ago.
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: I discovered I– Now I can see why people love the Bay. It was warm summer days up on the hill, and then, then one day I woke up with two new hips.
Michael Keleman: I can't speak to the hips, but, um-
Scott Hammond: Thank you
Michael Keleman: … actually, part of what I like about Humboldt is, um, it kinda reminds me of the Bay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: It doesn't have the population, but if you go back to when I was a kid and my parents used to take me to Muir Woods or Bodega-
Scott Hammond: Nice
Michael Keleman: … it was accessible.
Michael Keleman: Now, you can't get there. They're gonna charge you a hundred bucks to park and, uh, here I feel like I can do things that I used to do in the Bay Area.
Scott Hammond: All day long, yeah.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: My wife's a big hiker, so she goes-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … she's taken me to all these places.
Scott Hammond: I'm going, "Wow, there's a lot to enjoy here."
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: "There's a lot to do."
Michael Keleman: Agreed.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I wonder if you-
Michael Keleman: What brought you here?
Scott Hammond: What brought me here? Um, quick story. We were, uh, stoner, uh, roving, um, free range, uh, feral hippie children roaming the streets of National City, which is a sub-suburb of San Diego, just south, and, um, uh, blue collar, very poor, and we wound up in a career center at Sweetwater High School, one of the three oldest schools in San Diego County-
Michael Keleman: Okay
Scott Hammond: … besides other, two others. And, uh, there was a very beautiful lady named Charmaine who was running the night, the night shift, and we looked at universities with her 'cause we thought we were really interested in u- I think we were kinda interested
Scott Hammond: in her, but,
Scott Hammond: um,
Scott Hammond: we, um, we got to see this place on Microfish called Humboldt State University, and my friend Philip and I go, "Yeah, dude, we're gonna become rangers and drive around and we'll smoke weed and it'll be cool." And little did we know that it takes a lot of, you know, the fundamentals of
Scott Hammond: calculus, chemistry, physics, and, um, I made it. He didn't. Uh, I did get through with a degree in liberal
Scott Hammond: arts.
Michael Keleman: All right.
Scott Hammond: No science background. I don't know how I got through high school without alge- without Algebra 2.
Michael Keleman: Hmm.
Scott Hammond: So I just kinda, kinda negotiated there. But yeah, that's what got me here and married J-Joni and, uh, met Jesus, met Joni, got sober for 30-plus years and, um, got a degree in, in recreation.
Michael Keleman: That's cool.
Scott Hammond: Recess, if you will.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, that's cool.
Scott Hammond: So we're having fun today.
Michael Keleman: You've had a journey. Wow.
Scott Hammond: I got a whole journey, yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Uh, I wanna talk about your journey.
Scott Hammond: So-
Michael Keleman: Sorry
Scott Hammond: … you, you went to high school in the Bay Area?
Michael Keleman: Yeah, I went to a school called, uh, Bonavista High down in a town called Danville.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: East Bay.
Scott Hammond: Bonavista, is that, uh, is that Catholic school?
Michael Keleman: Nope.
Scott Hammond: No?
Michael Keleman: No. Far from.
Scott Hammond: Public?
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. We have a bunch of homeschoolers in our house.
Michael Keleman: We tried homeschooling. We still consider it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Um, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Any, any time I meet a homeschooler, I go, "Hey,
Scott Hammond: weirdo." And they go, "Yeah, that's me."
Michael Keleman: Yeah. Although I think it's becoming more normal.
Scott Hammond: It, totally, yeah.
Michael Keleman: I think more and more people are getting tired of, um, not the curriculum so much, but just the, the drama with this-
Scott Hammond: Oh my God
Michael Keleman: … generation of kids and, I'll, my, I'll be honest, my wife and I, at least two to three times a month, we're like, "Do we, do we homeschool again? Do we do it again?"
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: I'm like, "I don't know."
Scott Hammond: How many kids do you guys have?
Michael Keleman: Two boys.
Scott Hammond: Nice. How old are they?
Michael Keleman: 25 and 10.
Scott Hammond: You have a 25-year-old son?
Michael Keleman: I do, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Gosh, I got you for, like, 35, so-
Michael Keleman: Thank you
Scott Hammond: … crazy.
Michael Keleman: Well, we should end this right there. That's a perfect moment.
Scott Hammond: Hey, Michael's really young. And I'm young on the inside. Um, no, that's amazing. So yeah, uh, my son went to UC Davis and got a doctorate.
Michael Keleman: That's my undergrad.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, he went to poli sci. Uh, he was majored at poli science.
Michael Keleman: It's an amazing campus.
Scott Hammond: Oh, he's a great guy, and he's great professor. All the professors said, "Jesse, tell us how to homeschool. We wanna homeschool." So professors were reverting to a homeschool
Scott Hammond: model-
Michael Keleman: Yeah, yeah
Scott Hammond: … knowing that there was some benefit there. So he became a little expertised in, in, for a minute, and-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … a little bit of celeb. But anyway. So, uh, Bay Area, where'd you, where'd you go to college?
Scott Hammond: Besides
Scott Hammond: Davis.
Michael Keleman: I did UC Davis for my undergrad.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And, um, I went to USC for graduate-
Scott Hammond: Oh, cool
Michael Keleman: … down in, uh, LA.
Scott Hammond: What'd you study at Davis?
Michael Keleman: Uh, kinesiology. I was pretty adamant I wanted to go into medicine.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Uh, my father was an administrator at UCSF, and, uh, at that time, it was early 2000s, and so that's when, like, this concept of corporate medicine, electronic healthcare, all this stuff was happening. And so every physician I met was like, "Please don't do it. It's the worst job," and-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Keleman: … like, oh my gosh. And so, um- … you know, in my 20s, I was like, "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna learn business, and I'm gonna fix healthcare."
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: And so I did that, and here we are.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: Fixing healthcare.
Scott Hammond: So we've gone from an analog society to digital.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm, yeah.
Scott Hammond: And it's, like, not without some, some in-
Michael Keleman: Pros and cons
Scott Hammond: … interesting pros and cons, yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So, uh, what'd you study at USC?
Michael Keleman: I got a master's in health administration.
Scott Hammond: Sweet.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Great school.
Michael Keleman: I loved it. I wouldn't recommend it for undergrad. Um, but for graduate I think for graduate, what I really loved about it is undergrad's fun. Undergrad is a college experience-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … I'm just gonna be frank.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: And, um, those private universities, they don't have the same… Like, you go to Davis, and it's a college town, right?
Scott Hammond: It's fun.
Michael Keleman: It's amazing.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Massive campus. Graduate, though, I feel it's really about now you've decided consciously what a
Michael Keleman: pathway is.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And what I like about USC is they build… There's a network, there's connections, and-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Keleman: … you know, and even when you graduate, you can do a thesis or a fellowship, and the fellowship gave me an opportunity to interview, and I was able to be mentored by Chris Van Gorder, who's the CEO of Scripps Health.
Scott Hammond: Whoa.
Michael Keleman: So for the first three years, right out of school-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … I'm working with one of the most renowned leaders in healthcare.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: And so I, I owe a lot to my alma mater in that regard.
Scott Hammond: Where are they based? Are they LA, San Diego?
Michael Keleman: San Diego.
Scott Hammond: They're San Diego.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: La Jolla?
Michael Keleman: Uh, they have a campus in La Jolla. They have Green and, um, La Jolla, which is their main hospital.
Scott Hammond: When you're from San Diego, you call it La Jolla.
Michael Keleman: La Jolla.
Scott Hammond: It's kind of funny. You had to be there. S- Slo and La Jolla. Um, no, Davis is a great campus.
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: A lot of fun there.
Michael Keleman: I loved it there.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Really, Jesse had a great experience there.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You know, with professors and-
Michael Keleman: I'd like to live there still if I could.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's, it– And, and SC is a great, uh, gosh, you
Scott Hammond: know.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Are you still a Trojan fan?
Michael Keleman: Yeah. They brainwash you pretty good.
Michael Keleman: Uh-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … I laughed a little bit 'cause the first semester you go in, and I still remember calling my dad-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … and being like, "Oh my God, they're trying to brainwash me."
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. They are.
Michael Keleman: There's this Trojan thing.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: And then, like, you know, by the second semester, I'm throwing Vs and
Scott Hammond: They're like-
Michael Keleman: Success. They've done it.
Scott Hammond: I have Trojan jammies.
Michael Keleman: Are you…?
Scott Hammond: We did your Trojan colors today.
Michael Keleman: I, uh-
Scott Hammond: Don't know where the yellow is, the gold
Michael Keleman: … I have USC Trojan baby gear for my kids when they were babies, so yeah, it
Michael Keleman: works.
Scott Hammond: Funny.
Michael Keleman: They're very effective.
Scott Hammond: Good, good school. So the guy that actually did my hips, Dr. Bellino at Stanford-
Michael Keleman: Oh
Scott Hammond: … studied under your guy at, uh, SC, Doc- Dr.
Scott Hammond: Cho.
Michael Keleman: Oh, okay.
Scott Hammond: Uh, he perfected the anterior approach where they cut the front.
Michael Keleman: I did not know that was Cho.
Scott Hammond: 'Cause they used to cut you all the way around the hip-
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … which is crazy healing time. And he perfected this, and this guy was his mentor, so.
Michael Keleman: That's amazing.
Scott Hammond: Um, he was the mentee and the mentor. And, uh, yeah, good job. He did two hips in one day, bilateral hip-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … surgery.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Hey, this is about you, though, not me. So what'd you do out of college?
Michael Keleman: Oh, man. So I got a fellowship, uh, San Diego's at Scripps Health
Michael Keleman: for about-
Scott Hammond: Sweet
Michael Keleman: … two, almost three years.
Scott Hammond: Was that in La Jolla?
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Oh, nice.
Michael Keleman: It was, um-
Scott Hammond: That's across the highway, though. It's, uh, it's kind of east of the five or is it-
Michael Keleman: Well, there's five hospitals down there.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: Um, and then a massive medical group.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And what's nice about the fellowship is it gives you exposure to not just the hospitals, which serve varying communities, but medical groups, um, just things that I didn't really even understand in graduate school.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And, um, met my wife down there.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: And, uh, I surfed a lot.
Scott Hammond: Did you ever go to Black's Beach?
Michael Keleman: Yes, I went to Black's Beach.
Scott Hammond: Have you ever s-
Michael Keleman: No, I didn't go nude.
Scott Hammond: Took my question. Dang it. So for those of you that don't know-
Scott Hammond: … Michael clearly knows, uh, Black's Beach is probably one of the most beautiful beaches in SoCal. There's no doubt, 'cause it's isolated.
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's below cliffs and-
Michael Keleman: Coronado's pretty great, though, too.
Scott Hammond: Coronado's beautiful. Uh, Black's is, is iconic in the sense that it's got killer waves.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: And there's not as many people-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … 'cause you have to hike to get there.
Scott Hammond: And, um, one of my favorite memories is one morning waking up on a surfboard with no
Scott Hammond: clothes on.
Scott Hammond: And it was-
Michael Keleman: This is your stoner days still?
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it was a couple weeks ago. Joni and I were on vacation. I just had to go for it. Um, and I was, I was probably 17, and it
Scott Hammond: was, uh, 75 or 80 degrees outside, and the water was 70.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Which is like, you know, you're surfing in hot tub water.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Not quite, but… And it was just, like, one of those… And it's the spray, there was an offshore, and the waves were, like, little nice five, six-footers.
Michael Keleman: SoCal surfing is amazing. It's-
Scott Hammond: It's such a beautiful place
Michael Keleman: … it's very predictable.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: I will say, though, learning to surf up here, it's very humbling.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Michael Keleman: And, um, I feel very confident to surf anywhere I want at this point.
Michael Keleman: This is-
Scott Hammond: You go to Alaska from here.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, so you surf here. So like-
Michael Keleman: I do, yeah
Scott Hammond: … on the, on the, on the… What's it called? Not the bay, it's the, uh, mouth.
Michael Keleman: Uh, the jetty?
Scott Hammond: The jetty.
Michael Keleman: No, no, sir. I, I have children. I, um, am a responsible adult.
Scott Hammond: How about inside the jetty? The north side, north, north jetty.
Michael Keleman: I went to Samoa. Uh, one of the physicians, Dr. Brandon Byerly, he's a general surgeon. He took me out, and, um, I didn't go back. I, uh, then discovered Trinidad and-
Scott Hammond: Camel, Camel
Michael Keleman: … Moonstone. Camel, I've just discovered, and I love it.
Scott Hammond: Camel's cool.
Michael Keleman: It's amazing, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Camel's our date spot, so during COVID, Joni and I would take the van, 'cause we're five minutes away, and go to Camel. We got about five different places that we park.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And we– In fact, we missed it. We went for, like– We missed it for two months, went Sunday. Um, bottle of wine, open that thing.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Look at the sunset, and don't tell any of your friends, 'cause it's just a
Scott Hammond: magic-
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You know, here I am just, like, peeling clothes off, 'cause it, 'cause it gets so hot from the water.
Michael Keleman: You trying to get naked on that surfboard again?
Scott Hammond: I did not. I didn't, honey. I wasn't. I took my shirt off. That doesn't count. So, um, yeah, what a, what a great place. And, you know, back to the coolness-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … of Humboldt and going, "Why– You know, why would I leave God's
Scott Hammond: country?"
Michael Keleman: Moonstone has become one of my favorite places right now, um, for a few reasons. I can surf there. My 10-year-old can learn to surf there. And then what's amazing about it is when you get out of the water, it's such a large beach, and there's such a diverse, um, sense of what people are doing, right?
Michael Keleman: There's-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … gentlemen rock climbing. There's people, like, playing ukes in a little circle, hanging out and singing.
Scott Hammond: Oh, the river.
Michael Keleman: It was just like, I had that moment-
Scott Hammond: Runners
Michael Keleman: … where you're looking around going, "Wow, this is great."
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna show on the map here in a minute where, uh, Moonstone is for those of you that don't know.
Scott Hammond: It's, uh, right over here on my map. See it right, uh, north of Arcata, south of
Scott Hammond: Trinidad?
Michael Keleman: Oh
Scott Hammond: That, that we never-
Michael Keleman: I thought in Humboldt we don't give away those secrets.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, nailed it. Yes. Secrets, secret spot, Moonstone Beach. You will never find it. I have a friend that works up in, uh, Brookings.
Michael Keleman: Mm.
Scott Hammond: And, uh, he, he, he sells advertising, and Justin's a great guy, really killer surfer. You might have met him. He's bald, he looks like Kelly Slater. Anyway, hi Justin.
Michael Keleman: Does he make boards in the area?
Scott Hammond: Uh, I don't know that. He's a dancer. He teaches dancing.
Michael Keleman: Oh, okay.
Scott Hammond: Anyway, he's got secret spots, and he shoots them, and you can't really tell where it is.
Michael Keleman: Oh.
Scott Hammond: But he, he's got… He- he's… Like, southern Oregon is dialed in. He… But it has to break right, of course, 'cause it's surfing.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. Well, I've heard Crescent City. Um, I'm just not willing to drive two hours to surf to be honest.
Michael Keleman: I-
Scott Hammond: No
Michael Keleman: … I used to do that in the Bay.
Michael Keleman: I'm over it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Not when you could go to Moonstone in 10, 15, 20 minutes.
Michael Keleman: It's a little bit closer, yeah.
Scott Hammond: So what, what'd you do after you got out of, uh, uh, SC? Oh, you Scripps, okay.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, so I did Scripps, and then, um, I hopped. I wanted to learn as much as I could, and so I took everything I learned from Scripps. I took what I liked and that I thought I could apply naturally to my own style.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Michael Keleman: And I left the rest behind. And, um, since then I've worked for, I worked for Stanford. Um, I've worked for John Muir Health. I've worked for Tenet Health, and I've worked for Kaiser Permanente and Sutter
Michael Keleman: Health.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: So just tried to expose myself to everything I possibly could.
Scott Hammond: That's a lot of systems.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Probably all of them have good, good and bad to, uh, glean from.
Michael Keleman: Uh, I have this philosophy, and I, I actually convey this with our caregivers here. Um, my goal is to grow everyone to the point that basically they can go anywhere they want. And if they leave me, that's okay because it's a small world in healthcare. Um, but to your point, everyone has a different style and so, yeah, so you take what is great, and every single health system and organization has something great about it. And then there's things where you're like, "Gosh, why do we do this this way?"
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And I think where you finally land is the place that you get more comfortable with, "Okay, this sucks-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … but I can tolerate this because these things are so good."
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: So.
Scott Hammond: I was gonna, I was gonna laughingly say, sounds like marriage.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Love you, honey.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. I saw a meme today about marriage. It said, uh, "Marriage is-"
Scott Hammond: Actually, she would say that about us.
Michael Keleman: Well, the, the… So the meme goes, um, "Marriage is solving problems together, but they're problems that you wouldn't exist if you were single."
Scott Hammond: Good one. It's like, "Hmm, I like that."
Michael Keleman: I love my wife.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Me too. We both married up, right?
Michael Keleman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Thanks.
Scott Hammond: Yes, we did. We're, we're doing amazing.
Michael Keleman: I love that.
Scott Hammond: We have an amazing wife. Um, hey, if you're just joining us, uh, my new best friend, Michael Keleman, CEO of, uh, Pro- is it Providence St. Joseph, or is it just Providence, period?
Michael Keleman: Just Providence Health.
Scott Hammond: Providence Health, but not in Medford.
Michael Keleman: Um-
Scott Hammond: 'Cause that's Providence too, right?
Michael Keleman: Yes. Very robust in Oregon.
Scott Hammond: Hey, I, I… Let me show you how.
Michael Keleman: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Uh, right there. See that?
Michael Keleman: Oh.
Scott Hammond: Uh, so on, uh, my, uh, three-day sabbatical up in Jacksonville,
Scott Hammond: I-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … I, uh, disobeyed the mountain bike advice and said, "Hey, don't go the left trail." Went, went on the left trail. And this is a very sexy accident. I just fell. And I'm, I'm laying there and I go, "I think I'm okay."
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And I get up, and I get the bike and my backpack, and I look at my arm, and it's just covered in blood. So I… What I did is I split the fold in the finger.
Michael Keleman: Okay.
Scott Hammond: And so I went to Providence, uh, urgent care.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: What's… W- uh, Stewart Creek, Stewart Canal?
Scott Hammond: Anyway, and he got me four stitches.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Got within an hour, boom. Back on that bike. No.
Michael Keleman: Worked out, see?
Scott Hammond: No.
Michael Keleman: Took that left again and, uh…
Scott Hammond: My daugh- my daughter picked me up and bought me coffee and an In-N-Out Burger, and she goes, "Are you okay?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I'll be okay."
Michael Keleman: Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm glad you're well. I'm glad it worked out for you.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, it, it… got my stitches out today and so. No, I've been very happy with Dr. Hayne, Dan Hayne.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Shout out, Fortuna Redwood Memorial.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, he's also single and looking for a partner.
Scott Hammond: Great guy, man.
Michael Keleman: So do you wanna get the word out about that one?
Michael Keleman: Uh-
Scott Hammond: Not even… I'm not even looking, but he's, uh, he's a cool guy.
Michael Keleman: He is a good guy.
Scott Hammond: He's, he's a solid dude. I asked him, I go, "You married?" He goes, "Nah, not yet," he goes, "I'm super busy here." I go-
Michael Keleman: He's, he bought his house in Ferndale, and, um-
Scott Hammond: He's-
Michael Keleman: … he's at that stage in his life where he wants to have a family
Scott Hammond: … he's a Ferndale guy.
Michael Keleman: I feel weird speaking for him, and I was gonna listen to this and be like, "What is this guy doing sharing all my secrets?"
Scott Hammond: What's this guy even… What is he talking about, man? My boss. What's he doing?
Michael Keleman: Never talking to him again.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, right. So how, how about this? Let's talk about, uh, kind of a time arc-
Michael Keleman: Sure
Scott Hammond: … of, uh, St. Joseph, the sisters, maybe why don't you just-
Michael Keleman: Sure.
Scott Hammond: I mean, you could probably bring that in, in within, uh, 30 seconds, but that, that time arc getting us forward, um, opportunities, strengths, weaknesses, w- and maybe get us to current, and then we'll talk about the future a little bit.
Michael Keleman: So kind of the origin story of how we got here?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Sure. Um, so mind you, I've only been with Providence Health
Michael Keleman: since, uh, it's been maybe a year and eight months.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Okay, so I'm new, but I'll tell you what I know.
Scott Hammond: Welcome, welcome to Humboldt.
Michael Keleman: Hey, thank you.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: So yeah, so essentially Sisters of St. Joseph, um, there's 12 sisters led by Mother Bernard. Um, they came from a town called Le Puy. Um, it's a place in France where if you wanna talk about faith, their church sits on a volcanic cone in that town. It's pretty amazing.
Michael Keleman: Um-
Scott Hammond: It's a lot of faith
Michael Keleman: … but what's amazing about their story is, uh, so Father Madai was one of the priests, and he said, "Hey, go out into communities, find like-minded individuals who share in your values-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … find a problem, and solve it."
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: And so that was really kind of different 'cause it used to be come into the walls of a church, and this was a, "No, we're going out. We're going out to the communities we serve." And so they landed in Eureka, um, I think it was 1912. Um-
Scott Hammond: Steamer from San Francisco or wherever.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. They were supposed to go to Sacramento, so it's kind of an incidental-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Michael Keleman: … landing. But, um, they were gonna open schools, education. The pandemic hit. They partnered with the Mayo Clinic, taught themself everything, and what I like to share with caregivers is however hard you think your day is, at one point in time, there were 12 sisters who ran a 24-bed hospital, and they ran everything. So it's pretty amazing that you think about they've been here for When we say we've been here for 100 years or more to serve this community, we've literally been here for 100 years in this community.
Scott Hammond: That long.
Michael Keleman: That's where it started.
Scott Hammond: So was there no hospital in Eureka prior to them?
Michael Keleman: No. My understanding there was a hospital, but I believe it closed. Um, what's also really special is the Sisters of St. Joseph. So St. Joseph Health and Providence kind of came together in 2016.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: The first hospital for the Sisters of St. Joseph was here in Eureka. This is literally where it started.
Scott Hammond: This is ground zero for those guys.
Michael Keleman: It's really cool, and there's something– it's very deep in the DNA of this organization, even within Providence. When I go up to Renton, you'll meet the sisters, and when you say you're from Eureka, it's-
Scott Hammond: You got, you got-
Michael Keleman: Oh
Scott Hammond: … cred. Street cred.
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah. They're– It's, it's just woven into the DNA of the organization.
Scott Hammond: Where are you from? I'm from Eureka and Humboldt.
Michael Keleman: Right.
Scott Hammond: Whoa.
Michael Keleman: They know it. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Usually we're known for other things, but good, good job. We were at the Hollywood Bowl once, and I had a Humboldt shirt on, a guy goes, "You're from Humboldt." I go, "You ever heard of Humboldt?" He goes, "Oh, yeah."
Scott Hammond: I, I go, "Hey, can we sit in the box seats up there? 'Cause it looks like they're empty." He goes, "Sure, dude."
Michael Keleman: You wanna box it up?
Scott Hammond: He's looking for a tip, I think. But, uh, yeah, no. Uh, so, so when you go up there, they know, they know
Scott Hammond: Eureka.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm. Same down in Los Angeles when you go to the Sisters of Orange, which is… They relocated after about 10 or 11 years of being here.
Scott Hammond: In Irvine, right?
Michael Keleman: Yeah. And they went there 'cause the population was bigger.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Um, but it's still in the DNA.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, the corporate building was right next to where we trained at State Farm, uh, 100 years ago as agents.
Michael Keleman: Oh, wow.
Scott Hammond: I'm going, "St. Sisters of Orange, what?"
Michael Keleman: Small world, right?
Scott Hammond: Really weird. It was really weird. I'm going, "This is super small." So-
Michael Keleman: We're intertwined in your life too. Look at that. That's wild.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah, no. More than, more than you know.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, we've had babies and surgeries and ER visits and
Scott Hammond: all-
Michael Keleman: It's kinda cool, right? It's-
Scott Hammond: All manner of fun, yeah. Well, with nine kids, I'm gonna show up at your hospital at
Scott Hammond: some point.
Michael Keleman: I think-
Scott Hammond: With someone
Michael Keleman: … I think it's amazing though when you think about, take out the hospital and just look at what health care, at how it's-
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Keleman: You have to almost separate the organization and think about, like, that there is something that is beyond the tangible building, right?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Like, those experiences you have.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: It's, it's cool.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I would say that's more true for us with Mad River Hospital.
Michael Keleman: Mm.
Scott Hammond: You know, with- without, you know, all due respect. The, um, Doug Shaw and his crew-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and the, the birth center, and we've had two or three babies there, and-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … Connie Bash did a, a C-section– Well, Dr. Putler did a C-section on my
Scott Hammond: wife-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and, and a VBAC later. And so all this, yeah, all that narrative, that's not just transactional, it's family.
Michael Keleman: Mad River is amazing. Um-
Scott Hammond: They're cool
Michael Keleman: … I don't know if there is– And I honestly don't know the answer to this, and I'm
Michael Keleman: curious. They are a freestanding, wholly owned hospital. Like, Doug Shaw owns and runs this hospital.
Scott Hammond: It's pretty rare, right?
Michael Keleman: Yeah. And it's awesome.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And a nice guy.
Michael Keleman: Oh, he's great. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You hear that, Doug? Doug's promised to come on the– He swore.
Scott Hammond: Promised me.
Michael Keleman: Oh, no.
Scott Hammond: He's gonna– He'll be on the show.
Michael Keleman: He's a good guy.
Scott Hammond: I think Doug's got a lot– He's a good man. I've known Doug a long, long time. Um, so, so the arc, so the origin story, and so the sisters got things going-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and, uh, and then grew this thing.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And, uh, it got acquired. C- uh, carry on.
Michael Keleman: I don't know if it was an acquisition. My understanding is, um, like our values, for example, right? It's dignity, justice. They, um– Apparently, St. Joseph and Providence were very, very
Michael Keleman: similar.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And the two ministries came together and realized how similar they were.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: So I don't wanna say it was an acquisition, because you'll notice, actually, we like– I, I refer to it as Providence Health 'cause that's what I've been accustomed to as the main employer, but I still see St.
Michael Keleman: Joseph. And even on the corporate level, um, so Eric Wexler, he's the new president for Providence right now, but he has a board above him called the sponsors, and it's a 50/50 split of Providence sisters and St. Joseph sisters.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: And they're the ones who kind of make sure that we're still staying balanced and following the mission and our legacy and our heritage.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. I remember doing a, a speaking training for, um, some friends, uh, in that, uh… Where's that, where, where's that stayover place across the parking lot where you guys have-
Michael Keleman: Oh, the Evergreen Lodge. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, it was over there, and we were doing a training, and I was doing the training, and sister came in. And I-
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Gosh, I don't know her name. She's maybe still not there. I don't know. But there was, like, this reverence for sister 'cause she was super
Scott Hammond: cool.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: She'd been there for 200 years, and-
Michael Keleman: Probably not that bad
Scott Hammond: … helped. She looked great. She looked great.
Michael Keleman: They're not, they're not eternal.
Scott Hammond: Yes, they are. But she looked fabulous, and she was-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … really sweetheart,
Scott Hammond: humble.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And, um, I just remember the vibe. I don't even know what she said, but it was something sweet, something Jesus, and I loved it, loved her, and-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … you could tell that, you know, um, part of this outreach of whatever I was doing was helping Hispanic nursing moms and young families, uh, you know, underpriv-
Michael Keleman: Paso a Paso?
Scott Hammond: Could've been. Underprivileged in some way, and they were absolutely all over that,
Scott Hammond: and, um-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … it was cool. So, uh, so take us into broken healthcare in, in, to our
Michael Keleman: Well, this is done. No, just kidding.
Scott Hammond: I gotta go. So for the origin story to kind of maybe where we're at in, um, you know, we've been called a medical desert, uh-
Michael Keleman: Mm
Scott Hammond: … for a couple, couple reasons. I– How would you, how would you characterize all that? And then, then I want to t-certainly talk about vision and the future-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and what, what you're doing.
Michael Keleman: Oh, there's so much to unravel, Scott. Okay. Um, let me start with not a medical desert, and I think for someone– I, I just shared with you all the organizations I've been in and everywhere I've lived, okay?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: Healthcare is probably in one of the most challenging times it
Michael Keleman: has been-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Michael Keleman: … since probably the '60s when Medicare was kind of going out. And I, and I say that in terms of dynamic change. Um, some people will tell you that we're actually in a healthcare revolution, which I really like that phrase-
Scott Hammond: Ooh
Michael Keleman: … because, um, it is shifting, and- What's really unique about Humboldt is I think we, we have these claims of how we're in this desert, as you refer to it. But in reality, I can't tell you the number of times I call on friends and colleagues in San Francisco, back in San Diego-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … San Luis Obispo, and they're struggling. They are struggling-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Keleman: … to maintain coverage and access.
Michael Keleman: And what's unique about us is, um, I'll tell you the benefit and kind of our opportunities. So we actually offer amazing care. We have full comprehensive oncology. We have radiation oncology. I know Dr. Luh was on here at one point, right?
Scott Hammond: Dr. Luh's the bomb, yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What a great guy.
Michael Keleman: We have neurosurgery, trauma, NICU.
Scott Hammond: Great man.
Michael Keleman: We, we do things here that if you think about rural healthcare, this– we live in a rural community, but we have metropolitan healthcare here, okay?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: The challenge though is, so for example, um, we have a physician and his name's Dr.
Michael Keleman: Trieu. Dr. Trieu is a vascular surgeon who also can do robotic lobectomy, thoracic surgery. Find me one rural community that does robotic thoracic surgery. It's, it's not even that prevalent yet in metro areas.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Michael Keleman: We do that here. Here's the catch. There's one guy.
Scott Hammond: Right. Better than none.
Michael Keleman: So and that's, that's where the focus is, is trying to get a sense of what is the core need within these
Michael Keleman: communities.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: How do we, Providence, rise to that occasion with the resources we
Michael Keleman: have?
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: The other th- benefit I think we have in Humboldt that I have never seen anywhere else I've ever lived is the collaboration, and you mentioned Mad River, for example.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Not only with Mad River, Sutter Coast, Partnership Health Plan, um, UIHS, Open Door.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Michael Keleman: We all talk.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: We actually come together and we talk.
Scott Hammond: 'Cause it's Humboldt, and people do that.
Michael Keleman: We collaborate on-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … here's the problems in front of us. How do we work together to solve these things?
Scott Hammond: That's very cool.
Michael Keleman: I've never seen that anywhere else.
Scott Hammond: Is there a, is that a panel? Is that an organization? Is that just informal?
Michael Keleman: There's a few. Some of it's informal. Um, the more formal process that actually the chamber is now helping us lead is we s- we're starting a program called Home in Humboldt, and Home in Humboldt is an initiative to help with physician recruitment.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And it's all large employers, so Cal Poly's at the table, Coast Guard's at the
Michael Keleman: table.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Um, College of the Redwoods is at the table. And we're collaborating to go, how do we help bring in providers? Because I don't care what your business is. You, you could say, "Oh, I can't find talent for my school or my education system."
Michael Keleman: Okay, great. Part of that reason is because if they come here and they can't get with a doctor, or they don't feel confident in the healthcare provided to them, they're not coming
Michael Keleman: here.
Scott Hammond: It's not an option.
Michael Keleman: Correct.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: So I've been really-
Scott Hammond: That's insane
Michael Keleman: … um, I guess thankful, blessed, I'm not sure what the right word is, a little humbled by the fact that-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Michael Keleman: … to see these people come to the table and we're working together.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. And there's Destination Humboldt.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, Destination Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: Also.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: That's, and that's more of a community, um, philanthropic campaign, um, that helps us do loan forgiveness, invest in equipment. So for example, that robot I was talking about, um, that's a da Vinci Surgical XI system, right? It's a state-of-the-art surgical robot.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: We have it here.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Philanthropy.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: You're down with Dr. Heng. We're expanding Redwood's family practice so we can house another three primary care physicians before the end of this winter-
Scott Hammond: Sweet
Michael Keleman: … as well as a family therapist.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: That's philanthropy.
Scott Hammond: Three more.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, we'll have three more primary care and a, uh, family therapist down there before the end of the year.
Scott Hammond: That's pretty good.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That's really good.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Um, yeah, no, I, Joni and I would not have primary care if it wasn't for that.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And Destination Humboldt, um, yeah, big, big doings,
Scott Hammond: man.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Good thing. Bringing more– There's some more docs coming then. Obviously, there's probably people in the queue at all times.
Michael Keleman: We've brought on about 21 or 22 doctors through Destination Humboldt. Last year, we brought on 44 physicians. This year to date, we've brought on 25.
Scott Hammond: That's great.
Michael Keleman: Yep.
Scott Hammond: And still, we still need more 'cause there's probably-
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Maybe the medical desert has to do with medical gaps. It– There's probably stuff that we're not great at.
Michael Keleman: It has to do with subspecialization.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: So, for example, um-
Scott Hammond: So there's layers to this argument. I mean, this-
Michael Keleman: Oh, it's complex, man.
Scott Hammond: This complexity, complexity of the problem, the opportunity.
Michael Keleman: Well, think of it like this. I'll give you an example, okay?
Michael Keleman: Uh, gastroenterology, okay? You used to have– Well, I'll also give you two examples. Gastroenterology, there's this new generation of physicians who are gastroenterologists, and they wanna work in the ambulatory. They wanna do outpatient. They wanna work on the medical side of it. They don't wanna take call at a hospital.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: But there are emergencies that happen, so now I have to hire two different people to do what one person used to do, right?
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Michael Keleman: The other thing with subspecialization is, um, vascular is a good
Michael Keleman: example. You get an old school general surgeon, and they did it all. They did vascular surgery or general surgery. They did everything.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Now there's like, "Well, oh no, I'm a vascular surgeon."
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: "That's a general surgeon." So now you're, you're s- bifurcating specialties, and there's a lot of benefit to that, right?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: 'Cause these people are becoming experts in their fields, but it's requiring more resources to do the same work that used to be done by less people.
Scott Hammond: By one or two individuals.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Huh.
Michael Keleman: So it's hard.
Scott Hammond: Do you know Dr. Adams before he left? Um, he was a military guy.
Michael Keleman: Oh, cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr.
Michael Keleman: Adams.
Scott Hammond: Correct.
Michael Keleman: General Adams. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Correct.
Michael Keleman: Don't know him personally, but I know the name.
Scott Hammond: What a great guy.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Legend.
Michael Keleman: Um, he just got honored, actually, um-
Scott Hammond: He's, he's about to be honored. I think he's getting the, uh-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … is it the Purple Heart? I don't know.
Michael Keleman: It's something big.
Scott Hammond: It's huge, yeah. He's, um, interesting guy. He was one of our Humboldt heroes. You asked, uh-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … how, how I wound up here and with Nick and, um, we, we recognize vets once a month, and he was one of– he was an early one and, um, just a fascinating guy in terms of the stories in, in Afghanistan and, and in Yurikistan.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And just, you know, some of the stuff that he's dealt with and, um, just some insight into medicine, c- speaking of cardiovascular.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Well, cool. Uh, let, let's do the quiz show.
Scott Hammond: You ready?
Michael Keleman: I think so.
Scott Hammond: You go- It's okay, Michael. You'll be fine. If you're just joining us, it's, uh, Michael Keleman about ready to, uh, win a candy bar if he plays his cards right.
Michael Keleman: Oh, man. You know I'm still new to the community, right?
Scott Hammond: Are you really?
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: How new? Wow, come on.
Michael Keleman: Last January only.
Scott Hammond: That's pretty new.
Michael Keleman: It's not even two years.
Scott Hammond: If you're in Ferndale, that'd be pretty new.
Michael Keleman: I'm in Fortuna.
Scott Hammond: Right. It's the friendly city.
Michael Keleman: It is.
Scott Hammond: It's the better… It's going to hang out and get to know people. Uh, have you ever had a Dick Taylor chocolate?
Michael Keleman: I have, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Are they good? I have no idea because I've never had these.
Michael Keleman: I don't like the dark chocolates or the-
Scott Hammond: Oh, you're not a dark… Okay, perfect
Michael Keleman: … but, um-
Scott Hammond: This is milk chocolate
Michael Keleman: … I like the milk. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Here's the deal. So-
Michael Keleman: Good coffee too.
Scott Hammond: If this is a-
Michael Keleman: Great coffee
Scott Hammond: … so if somebody liken it to this, if this was a $10 candy bar-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … I'm sorry, it's not candy. It's-
Michael Keleman: Chocolate bar
Scott Hammond: … premium chocolate bar.
Michael Keleman: Don't offend them like that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, this is only cacao and sugar, dude. It's not got… Oh, this one has some cane sugar and some cocoa butter. I never really talk about this much. So, um, if this was a bottle of scotch, it'd be 500 bucks-
Michael Keleman: Okay. Yeah
Scott Hammond: … because it's top of the line chocolate.
Michael Keleman: I agree.
Scott Hammond: So I need some top of the line engagement here on this quiz.
Michael Keleman: Oh, man.
Scott Hammond: Are you ready?
Michael Keleman: I think so.
Scott Hammond: All right. Number… Question number one.
Michael Keleman: I get test anxiety.
Scott Hammond: That's earphone.
Scott Hammond: That's all.
Michael Keleman: I need some beta blockers.
Scott Hammond: Can only lose the candy, candy bar. Uh, question number one. Are you ready?
Michael Keleman: I think so.
Scott Hammond: Um, you have the entire da- day to do whatever the heck Michael wants to. No expense spa- spared. 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, uh, day after tomorrow, Friday. What, what are you gonna do in Humboldt?
Michael Keleman: I'm gonna surf all day, man.
Scott Hammond: Really?
Michael Keleman: Yeah. That sounds amazing.
Scott Hammond: Where?
Michael Keleman: I'd go up to Moonstone. I'd bring my family. My wife would probably let our dog run around. She'd go boogie boarding. My 10-year-old would be out there picking up on small waves, and, uh, that'd be amazing.
Scott Hammond: Just all day on the beach.
Michael Keleman: Now you're just making me kind of hate the fact that I can't do that.
Michael Keleman: That's-
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Sorry
Michael Keleman: … that's a messed up question.
Scott Hammond: We'll see.
Michael Keleman: Like, wait a minute.
Scott Hammond: Unintended consequence.
Michael Keleman: I played the Powerball last week, and it did not go well.
Scott Hammond: It did not go good. So an all-day beach trip.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: I mean, with this weather, it's kind of balmy. It would be beautiful.
Michael Keleman: Wouldn't bother me at all. I love it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Don't you guys get cold in the water?
Michael Keleman: No, I don't. You're paddling, you're moving around.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. Especially, you know, watching some of the waves at, at Moonstone. Uh-
Michael Keleman: It's beautiful
Scott Hammond: … when it's breaking right, it looks like it's really f- a fun bunch of waves.
Michael Keleman: Last couple weekends have been so great.
Scott Hammond: And there's a lot of breaks too. It's all the way down to… Well, from… I'm thinking of Camel all the way down.
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Um, it looks like there's several and hundreds of people. Hey, question number two.
Michael Keleman: All right.
Scott Hammond: Um, what's your best day in your life? Maybe one of your best days.
Michael Keleman: Like actual day that's happened?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Ooh, best day of my life. Um, you know, is this gonna sound weird? I'm gonna say, um, the birth of my son, but, um, here's the thing, my second, my second boy. At the time of birth, I did not bond with my son right away.
Scott Hammond: It's okay. It's done.
Michael Keleman: And everyone's like, "You gotta love him." I'm like, "I don't know who he is."
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Dude, I got nine kids, and trust me, it's not, not abnormal.
Michael Keleman: All right.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: But the love I have for him now-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Keleman: … I'm so thankful, and I, I reflect on that day, um, at least once a week, I reflect on the day-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Keleman: … my son was born, and I still remember putting my, my finger in the palm of his
Michael Keleman: hand, and him… He, he just grabbed it with a little baby kung fu grip, and it was awesome.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Where was that at?
Michael Keleman: John Muir.
Scott Hammond: John Muir.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That's, uh, Bay Area, right?
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it, um… Okay. Good, good answer. Yeah, I don't think it's instant bonding all the time. It's, it's, it's bonding of another kind and-
Michael Keleman: It's a labor of love.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I mean, I start to bond after they talk, I think.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It takes me a minute.
Michael Keleman: It took me time to… I, I thank you for saying that.
Michael Keleman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: It's a dude, it's a dude or a dad, I don't know. Or just maybe we're just-
Michael Keleman: Maybe it's just us
Scott Hammond: … closed off.
Michael Keleman: Maybe we're just cold souls. I love you now.
Scott Hammond: Maybe-
Michael Keleman: I love you so much now.
Scott Hammond: So much, son. All daughters. Okay, good answer. Number three. Worst day of your life or one of them?
Michael Keleman: Oh, man. Um, worst day of my life.
Michael Keleman: Geez.
Scott Hammond: A worst day.
Michael Keleman: Uh, you know, uh, how about I answer it more as a generality?
Michael Keleman: Um, my hardest days are when there's something going on personally.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Um, 'cause when things are going on at work, and I mean, every day there's, there's stuff, man. It's, it's a hard job.
Scott Hammond: It's a job, yeah.
Michael Keleman: But it's, it feels manageable.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And for some reason, when it's personal, like if something's going on with my wife-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … if something's going on with one of my boys-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … um, it's so hard because you not only wanna be there, you wanna solve it. You wanna solve it right now 'cause you don't want them getting hurt.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: But you can't.
Scott Hammond: 'Cause you're not… Yeah.
Michael Keleman: You just can't for so many reasons. One, you, you can't constantly be there to save them. They need to grow, and they need to have their crucible. Um, but two, y- you physically, emotionally, whatever, you, you honestly just probably can't.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: That's so hard. Um, I've gone through that sometimes. My older boy, he had to move back in with Grandpa recently, and, um-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … it was hard watching him go through, you know, growth and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … maturing, you know?
Scott Hammond: It's a great admission. I think, I think it's totally a truth that, um, the school of consequences-
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … which we can't, we all go through.
Scott Hammond: Um-
Michael Keleman: It's hard to watch though, right? Like, you know it's good for your children-
Scott Hammond: It's so good
Michael Keleman: … and you just hope they lean on you when they need to, but it's so hard to watch.
Scott Hammond: It hurts so good, man.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Uh, my son came home crushed last night after a really hard day with this assassination and, uh, and,
Scott Hammond: um, of his guy. He loved this guy and, um, and a breakup with a girlfriend and the job, and he's cutting now.
Scott Hammond: He's, he-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … can bench 465, so he's a bodybuilder, and he's, he's kind of a badass.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: But last night he said, "I screamed in my car all the way to McKinleyville." I cried in my car.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And maybe one day Michael will see this and he'll know that it was a tender moment for Joni and I. And he, he came to the bar and, uh, not, not the bar, the bar at home-
Michael Keleman: Yeah, yeah
Scott Hammond: … at 11:00 at night, and Joni and I just sat with him, just hurt with him, and it was really cool. It was really a tender, good moment that had to happen.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And he goes… And he s- he made several admissions about his own process in life that were really, um, broken-hearted, good admissions of truth and like, you know, "I don't have answers," and, "Maybe I do need counseling," and maybe, you know, "Life sucks," and it, it, "There's division out there," and-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … "Dad, it, it, uh, there are people that really suck out there-"
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and they're terrible individuals." And I'm going, "Wow, I wish I could argue with you."
Scott Hammond: I'm not a-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … I'm not… You know, and so it was just that supportive sort of moment and,
Scott Hammond: um…
Scott Hammond: Wow, uh, can I answer a question? Question number four.
Michael Keleman: Sure.
Scott Hammond: Good answer, by the way. What do you find, uh, crushing and soul-sapping and just what takes it from you when you, uh, a little-
Michael Keleman: Oh
Scott Hammond: … kind of akin to the worst day, but not necessarily.
Michael Keleman: Um, I'm gonna try to say this the right way.
Michael Keleman: So this will be related to work. So there's about 2,000 caregivers that work between the two hospitals. Doesn't even include the medical group.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Um, med staff's probably close to 4 to 500 physicians, okay? These are pa- these are members of this community.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Um, these are people who see thousands and thousands of people every single year.
Scott Hammond: Y'all are a big employer, right?
Scott Hammond: I mean-
Michael Keleman: Yeah, we're big
Scott Hammond: … perhaps, perhaps number one, maybe. The university is out there.
Michael Keleman: Um, I think maybe Cal Poly or us. Yeah, somewhere. We're, we're large, for sure.
Scott Hammond: Sure, sure.
Michael Keleman: But what's hard about it is 9.9 times
Michael Keleman: out of 10, we do amazing things. Amazing things. And that's something I always tell the team, "You do amazing things." There are moments where we fail. There are moments where someone slips through a crack and we don't know how that happened, right?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: And we get bashed.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: And I don't care personally, um, to be completely frank. Um, I get kind of protective though, and the soul-sucking part is when people try to bash and try to make their statements like they, like they know.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And I sit there and I go, "These are your neighbors."
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: "These are people that live in this community-"
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Keleman: … that go to school with your kids."
Scott Hammond: You're gonna see them at Safeway or the co-op or-
Michael Keleman: And they, and they care about you
Scott Hammond: … Costco.
Michael Keleman: And at the end of the day, they care about you.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: But you're in this moment, but that moment hurts these caregivers. It hurts these physicians.
Scott Hammond: On a personal level.
Michael Keleman: It does.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Because they're trying.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: That's the soul-sucking stuff, and it kind of goes back to the-
Scott Hammond: Good one
Michael Keleman: … the children thing, right? Which is I wanna help and I wanna fix it. I can't. And so you just try to remind your team that you do amazing things.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Don't let anyone else fool you differently.
Scott Hammond: Turns out we're all pretty human.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, I think that's a key too. Y- well, you mentioned with your son, I appreciate. I, um, my wife and I have done a lot of counseling, and I to this day think it's, like, the hero of my life-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … and everyone should do it. I think it'll make you a better leader.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: And it's funny as humans, um, not just roles, but as human beings-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … we all tend to think that it's, uh, like we're alone.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: And, like, no one understands this or, "Oh man, I don't wanna do this. That's embarrassing."
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Keleman: Even though, like, the guy right next to you is having the exact same thought,
Michael Keleman: right?
Scott Hammond: Or worse.
Michael Keleman: And it's like how do we break those shells to go, look, yeah, sometimes you gotta toughen up, sometimes you gotta work through things, but-
Scott Hammond: Good word
Michael Keleman: … you should never think you're alone in it.
Scott Hammond: Good word.
Michael Keleman: Right?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: So.
Scott Hammond: Appreciate it, man. That's good. That's good. Um, and we're so American independent and-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … sometimes we're dudes on top of it, which is our bane.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Um, sometimes as a gender, we just go solo. I'm Lone Ranger.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Wanna see all my arrows? I got some spears in there too, bro.
Scott Hammond: It's like, no, I don't. I, in fact, you're, that's sad that you would take all those-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … alone and not, and not reach out and go, "Hey, I, I hurt like hell."
Michael Keleman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: "Can someone help me?" And nah, I just… I'll just die with my cancer or
Scott Hammond: my-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … stroke or aneurysm or my bitterness or, or my bottle. And it's like, so, uh, for, for you, all you guys out there, you young and old
Scott Hammond: fellas. It's funny I could say that now. I have, like, a gray beard and I could say things.
Michael Keleman: My son says it's sunscreen.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Nice. Yeah, you see a little bit of gray.
Michael Keleman: He doesn't accept my, uh, imminent death.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Keleman: It's like, "No, no, Dad, it's sunscreen." I'm like, "No, Dad's dying."
Scott Hammond: No. Evidence of death.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, it's-
Michael Keleman: Slow and steady
Scott Hammond: … it's true. Just believe your dad. It's, it's coming for you. Okay, last one.
Michael Keleman: All right.
Scott Hammond: What's fulfilling for you? What, what fills up your cup, your soul, spirit?
Michael Keleman: Uh, two things. I'll give you a personal and professional. Um, professional, myself and the rest of the executive team, uh, this is the first time I've ever done anything like this.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Um, once a month, we volunteer our time in the community. So we've worked with Betty Chin, we've worked with the food bank.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: We've gone to our resource centers.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: Those are the best days.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool. Betty's cool.
Michael Keleman: They… I mean, when you go out there and you, um… It's, it's not the refilling of the cup because you're like, "I did good today." It's you meet people that you probably would have never have talked to.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: And it goes back to that human thing, and you j- you just, you engage and get to know someone that is on a completely different side of life than you.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: And you bond.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: It's, like, such a good feeling.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Um, the personal is, um, I go back to my kid, man.
Michael Keleman: The seeing your kids thrive, seeing them laugh-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Michael Keleman: … smile. Um, I know, I know it's hormones. I know the physicians are like, "That's called oxytocin."
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Michael Keleman: Um, I get it.
Scott Hammond: That's so nice. That's okay.
Michael Keleman: I love when that stuff pumps into my system, though.
Michael Keleman: So…
Scott Hammond: Doesn't matter the science behind it.
Michael Keleman: It feels real good. It's…
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Keleman: That's some good drugs.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I mean, grandkids for Joni and I now.
Michael Keleman: Oh.
Scott Hammond: It's, like, such a rush.
Michael Keleman: I actually, you know, I joke with my wife, um, I romanticize the idea of growing old with her-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … and becoming grandparents.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. It'll happen. It'll happen.
Michael Keleman: I know there's gonna be ailments, but- I look forward to that period, 'cause you don't have to do the parenting
Scott Hammond: No, you just go out and-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … we go nuts. We go to Idaho and go nuts.
Scott Hammond: Just-
Michael Keleman: Oh
Scott Hammond: … what do you want?
Michael Keleman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Anyth- you have up to a dollar to spend at the thrift store.
Michael Keleman: It's just fun.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Whatever y- uh, you know what? I'm gonna go to Five Guys and we're gonna get two bags of fries. There's like, there's like su-
Michael Keleman: You can tell Mom about it later.
Scott Hammond: What do you want? Oh, you want a burrito? You're gonna get sick. I don't care. Let's get you a burrito.
Michael Keleman: Won't be at my house. Yeah, exactly.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: I look forward to that. Yes.
Scott Hammond: There's some of that. There's some of that going down. Don't, don't tell my kids. I'll get in big trouble. Well, hey, listen, uh, well done.
Scott Hammond: You've, uh-
Michael Keleman: I got a candy bar?
Scott Hammond: … you've won, uh-
Michael Keleman: Oh
Scott Hammond: … not a candy, a qu- quinoa crunch milk chocolate from Dick Taylor.
Michael Keleman: Sir, thank you.
Scott Hammond: Thank-
Michael Keleman: Is this local quinoa?
Scott Hammond: This is, uh, locally sourced quinoa.
Scott Hammond: I'm sure. Um, it's organic. Um,
Michael Keleman: Gluten's not so healthy
Scott Hammond: … it's gluten-free. Does quinoa have gluten?
Michael Keleman: I don't know.
Scott Hammond: Maybe Nick will find that out.
Michael Keleman: I don't know.
Scott Hammond: I, maybe that's not necessary.
Michael Keleman: This place is awesome, though. Again, I'm gonna talk… You, you mentioned earlier about health-
Scott Hammond: Do it
Michael Keleman: … desert and stuff.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: For people who are new to Eureka and new to Humboldt-
Scott Hammond: Nothing like that place
Michael Keleman: … no, but in general, this place offers so much. So we have an anesthesiologist today. She just signed. She's from New York.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: Studied in Columbia, right? This is, like, top-notch stuff.
Scott Hammond: Sweet.
Michael Keleman: And she's been here as a locum, which is like a traveling doctor, and she goes, "I'm signing with you guys." And when I go, "Why?" She goes, " 'Cause I'm just discovering every day how much more there is to do here."
Scott Hammond: There's cool stuff.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: We gotta get the word out.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Lar- larrupin moonstone, Trinidad.
Michael Keleman: But I mean, like, even like-
Scott Hammond: Dick Taylor
Michael Keleman: … Six Rivers going rafting. You can do Outlaw cart racing. You got the Redwood Acres, where you're seeing stock cars. Like, it's, it's-
Scott Hammond: Drag racing in Samoa
Michael Keleman: … it– Right. You can go off-roading, surfing, watch the drag race. You can go to the bay club right there. Like, there's so much. There's no deal.
Scott Hammond: There's trails to hike on. They're just gone. There's, there's like chillions of miles of trails.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, that's amazing though.
Scott Hammond: Mountain biking. I wanna go back to mountain biking 'cause-
Michael Keleman: Sure
Scott Hammond: … you know, get back on the horse, right?
Michael Keleman: Yeah, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, so I'm gonna get that e-bike and do that thing.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. My wife's looking at one of those e-bikes.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: They're cool, man. The e-bike's the thing, man. It's so much fun. So, uh, take us into the future. So you're this collaborative community leader, and you wanna try to bring community into medicine.
Michael Keleman: I like that you called me a collaborative community leader.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: I'm, I'm glad that's on record. Thank you for that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, th- yeah. Make sure the staff hears that. Um, as the, as… Hey, staff. Um, so tell, tell me what you see. What, what, what do you wanna see?
Scott Hammond: Who are you-
Michael Keleman: Locally or just in general?
Scott Hammond: Who are you? What do you want? Yeah. For, for, for the– for Providence.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. So I do have a vision. Um, it's about three to five years before we get there.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Michael Keleman: But, uh, we're gonna be a regional destination.
Michael Keleman: So like I told you, we do amazing things, right? We have comprehensive oncology services. We have a lung cancer program. We have cardiovascular. We have neuro. What we're trying to get dialed in on is I want to clearly understand what the communities are that we serve. And it's not just Humboldt County. We actually get people trying to send us care all the way from Oregon.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: Last, last year, I had to say no to I think it was 76 transfers 'cause I couldn't find a bed in our hospitals because so many people needed our
Michael Keleman: care.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: And so what I envision us is Humboldt first is how do we build the network where we have the ambulatory access points. We're coordinating our care with the acute side, where you as a patient, you start in your primary care office. They say you need to see a cardiologist. Before you leave, we should start getting you scheduled.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Because the moment you leave-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … the moment I give you time, the moment I say, "Here's a phone number"-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … that's, that's the guy who falls through the crack.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: Right? So that, that's that first step is how do we build that, that network where the acute setting and the ambulatory setting are working
Michael Keleman: together.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: The next piece, and this is what's hard, I think, for this community, is we need to get comfortable with we don't do everything here. We need to start acting as a network.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And that's where, like so for Providence in Northern California, SoCal we're even larger, but in NorCal, we have six hospitals.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And every hospital, we need to kinda identify who– what is our identity, what's our place. And that's where I envision us as Humboldt. We know what our core services are. We know what is required to take care of our communities. But you're gonna get these onesie-twosie opportunities, right? You're gonna get that one person who's got some weird situation where you're like-
Scott Hammond: It's gotta go to Napa
Michael Keleman: … yeah, like it's gonna Napa, Santa Rosa, wherever makes sense, depending on those identities, right? But it's going, "Okay, hey, we see a handful of
Michael Keleman: this stuff-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … but not enough of it to do it safely and to do it the way that is appropriate."
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: "So we're gonna send you down to a place that we're consolidating that service-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … to make sure that we see enough of it."
Scott Hammond: So think like a, a network and a referral agency-
Michael Keleman: Yes
Scott Hammond: … 'cause it's the right thing.
Michael Keleman: And we have to make sure those transitions are seamless.
Scott Hammond: What are the other four hospitals?
Scott Hammond: So Napa.
Michael Keleman: We have Queen of the Valley in Napa-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … Santa Rosa Memorial in Santa Rosa, and then we have, um, Healdsburg and Petaluma.
Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Those are all great hospitals, right?
Michael Keleman: Mm-hmm. Yeah, they're great. And they all– we all kinda have our own identities, a little bit of redundancy, and I think we're working on that.
Scott Hammond: Sure. Huh. So opportunities are there. So four, four to– You said four to six years out.
Michael Keleman: I think three to five.
Scott Hammond: Three to five.
Michael Keleman: Um, honestly, I think, I think, like, right now, the first step is cementing what we do now well and being very clear on what's core to us as a-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … you know, we, we call our hospitals ministries.
Michael Keleman: And so-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Keleman: … being core to what the ministry is. And so that's cardiovascular, right? That's women's health. That's oncology.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Um, that's our trauma program. Those are core services to us.
Scott Hammond: Birth services.
Michael Keleman: We need to be the best at them.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Keleman: And right now, I think we're really, really darn good.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: But we could be a lot better.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Wow. Well said. I wonder about, um, I mean, oncology. I mean, Dr. Luh, man, he's-
Michael Keleman: Yeah. It's amazing what we do there, huh?
Scott Hammond: He's telling me some stuff about his deal. Betty, Betty Chin on the other end, uh, on the-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … on the outside. And, you know, I know that you guys, um, uh, your ER attended how many people? It was like a record day last January.
Michael Keleman: Uh, we did the 150 people, I think. We see about 40,000-ish people every year in our
Michael Keleman: ER alone.
Scott Hammond: Those are crazy numbers, right?
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: For the ER.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, I, uh, I went in in April and it was, like, amazing.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, we've implemented some cool stuff.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, it got seen by a lot of people.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So, um, c- so c- collaborative community, we- we're gonna have some good things coming. What, what do you do now?
Scott Hammond: And I-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … you know, it's in- interesting 'cause I, I think the paradigm is this. So I got a call today on an insurance claim.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: "Hey, uh, can you take the claim? Can you fix me?" And I'm going, "No, it's a whole new model. It's all handled out of Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta."
Michael Keleman: Oh, interesting. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It's one phone call. You don't tell the agent, and then I tell 10 other people and get your story wrong.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: "Well, we didn't do that in the old day." I go, "No, I know it's old-fashioned."
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You and I think the same way, but it, it changed about 10 years ago.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And I think people are just not– It, it's the head space of, of old school Humboldt, if you will.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: With all due respect to you old school Humboldt people.
Scott Hammond: Um-
Michael Keleman: There's pros and cons though, I'm not gonna lie to you.
Scott Hammond: Oh, there's pr- yeah, absolutely. And, and good… You know, good, solid salt of the earth, but there's a head space of like, "Well, this is how we have always done it, and
Scott Hammond: can't we do a double bypass tonight at St. Joe's?" It's like, "No. No."
Michael Keleman: Well, and I'll, I'll tell you that too. That's a, that's a big one, right? The open heart program.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And it's– So statistically, they say you should be doing at least 100 of these cases a year.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Keleman: A hundred.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: We're doing about 24 a year.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: And it's gonna get smaller and smaller as time goes on, um, because we're gonna get better and better at interventional cardiology, right?
Scott Hammond: That makes sense.
Michael Keleman: But, but I will say it is pros and cons. So for example, I'm looking at launching a hospital-at-home model. I don't know if it's gonna be possible, but we're looking at it.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: They do it in a lot of hospitals in the East Coast.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: And it's cool. So imagine you have pneumonia, you have COPD. There's certain, uh, diagnoses that other health systems like John Hopkins have determined, "Hey, we can actually give you inpatient level care at your house."
Scott Hammond: Cool.
Michael Keleman: Sounds like such a novel idea, but in reality, I believe there was a time when the doctor would go to your house.
Scott Hammond: Remember that? Ethel?
Michael Keleman: It's wild, right? It's like we're bringing it back.
Scott Hammond: A long time ago.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. So I think there's pros and cons.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Um, the systemness though, the newer part, I know it's a little hard 'cause at first when you launch things, it's never seamless. But the day that someone can walk into that primary care office and the day that someone goes, "Hey, you need to go see a specialist, and I'm gonna get you scheduled before you walk out this door," that will be the day that people will go, "This is nice."
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: I would also argue as a community, as we continue to try to attract younger families-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … they are coming from what we're talking about. They are coming from these metro areas that already do medicine that way, right?
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: It's virtual. It's all on a screen. They direct schedule. They don't call anybody.
Scott Hammond: Face, FaceTime stuff. Yeah.
Michael Keleman: So when they come to communities like this, they're kind of expecting that. And if they don't see that… And new physicians are the same way. They're kinda going, "Eh."
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So we have to ad- be first to a- we have to adopt and adapt.
Michael Keleman: I would agree. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, I– And that takes time, but I like that. So the funny thing, it's– I always find it mystical that Humboldt's not t- three times as big as we are.
Michael Keleman: Right?
Scott Hammond: I mean, I've-
Michael Keleman: It's insane down there
Scott Hammond: … people come and they go, "This is amazing." And there's the Germans hiking up in Redwood Forest.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: There's people and, uh, and oh, that's so, such a cool– How do you live there? I come to vacation there.
Scott Hammond: I go-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … "Huh." And, and I-
Michael Keleman: You guys live here?
Scott Hammond: I think quietly there are a lot of folks that have sold in the Bay Area and LA and come up here and-
Michael Keleman: I agree
Scott Hammond: … um, they're, they're here already. Um, yeah, al- always a mystery to me why it couldn't blossom, but there's a lot of reasons why and why not. Housing. Hous-
Michael Keleman: I think it will though.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: I think there's a lot of chatter right now, and I feel like the chamber and others are starting to really work on how we can– It's an awareness, right? There, there's Murder Mountain on Netflix.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Michael Keleman: How do you change the perception-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Michael Keleman: … so people see what we see as we live here?
Scott Hammond: Yeah. How do we get enough housing for the folks that are here?
Michael Keleman: Yeah. I think so.
Scott Hammond: You know, so-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … that's, that's gonna be the beast. Well, hey, thanks, man.
Michael Keleman: Thank you.
Scott Hammond: Don't go yet. I have another question for you.
Michael Keleman: Oh, good.
Scott Hammond: What are we gonna- This is the really hard one.
Michael Keleman: Do I get another quinoa bar, sir?
Scott Hammond: Let me see. Oh, wait, wait, I have an Emory board.
Michael Keleman: Oh.
Scott Hammond: Courtesy of Scott Hammond State Farm.
Michael Keleman: I love it.
Scott Hammond: Located in downtown Eureka.
Michael Keleman: Always wanted one of those.
Scott Hammond: You're playing for an Emory board.
Michael Keleman: What you got?
Scott Hammond: My question is, um, what would you like us to say at your celebration of life?
Michael Keleman: Oh my gosh, this is dark now, huh?
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, not really. It's glorious. It, it's your, it's your end of life. Uh, people are coming up and talking about you. It's your gravestone. It's the speeches. It's, uh, your legacy, Michael. What would you, what would you hope for?
Michael Keleman: Um, I got two, two thoughts rattling around in my head here. Um, one is I ho- I hope I made a difference.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Keleman: That is what gets me up in the morning. I'm not gonna lie to you.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Michael Keleman: Um, I don't mean that to be cliché.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: You can ask my family and anyone.
Michael Keleman: Um, it's really important to me that if you are alive in this world, you are making a difference.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Michael Keleman: I will admit, as I've gotten older, I used to think that difference would be a little bigger
Michael Keleman: than it is.
Scott Hammond: Sure. Sure.
Michael Keleman: I was a little naive, but, um, I hope that, I hope that people go, "We, uh, he did, he did something good. He made something better."
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Michael Keleman: Um, I had another thought too. Oh, the other thought was, um, Humboldt's the first place I've ever lived in where I understand the concept of community and, um, the discomfort almost that comes with it, to be honest. But, um-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Michael Keleman: … I hope that there are actually people there. And for anyone who's grown up in the Bay Area, you can understand what I'm saying, which is, um, I've never really understood the depth of a relationship-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … until I moved here.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Michael Keleman: And I feel like this is one of the first places that I've ever lived that, like, if there was an Armageddon-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Michael Keleman: … we would probably be all right.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: You know, like-
Scott Hammond: Geographically and otherwise.
Michael Keleman: But I mean, like, people would rally-
Scott Hammond: I think they, absolutely
Michael Keleman: … and they'd help each other. Where, where I grew up
Scott Hammond: They'd run for the-
Michael Keleman: They'd be like, "You better get off my property."
Scott Hammond: Right. Run for the hills, man.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. I don't know who you are, buddy. I'm like, "I'm your neighbor."
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: No, you're not.
Scott Hammond: Not anymore.
Michael Keleman: Yeah. So-
Scott Hammond: So much for being a good neighbor
Michael Keleman: … I would hope people would show up, and I'd, I would hope that they would think that I made a difference.
Scott Hammond: I love it. Good answers. And, and I, I love your answer of here, here you are under two years old in Humboldt, and you already tasted that
Scott Hammond: and-
Michael Keleman: Oh, yeah
Scott Hammond: … and, and quantified, verbalized, and, um, expressed that. It's pretty, pretty cool.
Michael Keleman: It's a, it's a magical place, man. I, uh, I've recently… I don't know if this is a positive or people are gonna go, "That's offensive," but, um, I've recently said that, um, you know the tentacles on, like, ivy? You ever see how ivy grows, like, along a brick wall-
Scott Hammond: Oh, sure
Michael Keleman: … or a fence?
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Michael Keleman: You know it's slow, right?
Scott Hammond: Just got back from Europe. There's a lot of ivy.
Michael Keleman: Okay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: And it's got its little tentacle arms, and they kinda hook-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Michael Keleman: … moves, and, you know, you just let it go until one day-
Scott Hammond: Took over your building
Michael Keleman: … it's taken it all over, right?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: That's Humboldt. Humboldt has this weird way-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Michael Keleman: … of when you first move here, you're like, "I don't know. Where am I?" And then time goes by-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Michael Keleman: … and it starts to get its hooks in you-
Scott Hammond: Huh
Michael Keleman: … but it does it real slow, real quiet.
Scott Hammond: That's cool.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I like that. Good metaphor.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no. And, and, and you hit on something else that's key, and I, I love this, and we're gonna wrap up here. Um, there's a price to pay with that, uh, of discomfort and scratchiness-
Michael Keleman: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … stickiness, and, you know, some, some of y'all are just a pain in the ass out there. I'm sorry. It's just true.
Michael Keleman: I don't agree. That was Scott who said that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, no. I said, I said it for Nick. Um, no, the, the, it's, it's true. There's, there's, um, there's a price to pay for family, and that's-
Michael Keleman: Yes
Scott Hammond: … understanding that discomfort of, you know, it's 80% cool, 20% I could just live without it. But that's, that's, that's relationship. That's connection. That's relate-
Michael Keleman: It is
Scott Hammond: … family. That's people and, and-
Michael Keleman: Assume positive intent, and it's okay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Until it's not, you know? Let me tell you about some people I actually have a-
Michael Keleman: Let me tell you.
Scott Hammond: George Costanza's dad. Frank Costanza. What was it, Festivus?
Michael Keleman: Oh, man. I just rewatched all of Seinfeld like a month ago.
Scott Hammond: What a great-
Michael Keleman: So yes, I know Festivus well now.
Scott Hammond: Great episode. I'm gonna tell you something about you people. For, for you Seinfeld fans-
Michael Keleman: Oh, we gotta do that
Scott Hammond: … some people are going, "I don't even… What? The Office? I watched maybe The Office."
Michael Keleman: I'm gonna do this at a board meeting. This is a great idea.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: I'm gonna do Festivus at the board holiday.
Scott Hammond: That'd be great. Feats of strength.
Michael Keleman: I'm gonna tell some people.
Scott Hammond: Join Lou. Get up here. We're gonna wrestle. Gold- Goldberg, get up here.
Michael Keleman: Join, join's a very stacked individual. I wouldn't wanna wrestle Join.
Scott Hammond: Pretty sure he's, he's yoked. Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's-
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I wouldn't wanna mess with him. Hey, thanks for being here.
Michael Keleman: Yeah, thank you. This was fun.
Scott Hammond: It was fun, yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I, I hope to talk some more. And, uh, hey, uh, if you're out there and you like what we're doing, um, uh, send us a lot of cash. We're, we're really big on that. No, I'm kidding. If you like us, love us, comment on us. Uh, we're on YouTube and all the, uh, all the platforms, and, um, I think we got second place in North Coast Journal, uh, best-
Michael Keleman: Oh, no way
Scott Hammond: … podcast, yeah.
Michael Keleman: Who was first?
Scott Hammond: Um, my good buddy, um, uh, this… Is it this week at Humboldt? Last week at Humboldt. And, you know, I'm on the spot now. Humboldt last week. Yeah, Humboldt last week. It is- Miles Talkling. Miles, yeah. My, I had Miles on the show.
Michael Keleman: Okay. Okay.
Scott Hammond: Miles is a terrific guy.
Michael Keleman: I don't think I know Miles.
Scott Hammond: Congratulations, Miles. You- … did it to… Again.
Scott Hammond: No.
Michael Keleman: He's great.
Scott Hammond: He's a winner.
Michael Keleman: He's a winner.
Scott Hammond: Love you, Miles. Mean it. Um, so yeah. Thanks for joining us. If, uh, we could ever, uh, if you have ideas for us, uh, write me. I'm easy to find, Scott Hammond. Just Google me or, in this case, ChatGPT.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Michael Keleman: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Can find out all the stuff about us.
Scott Hammond: And, uh-
Michael Keleman: Except for me 'cause I'm-
Scott Hammond: Except for you
Michael Keleman: … I'm off the radar.
Scott Hammond: You, you are an invisible man. Yes, you are.
Michael Keleman: Thank you.
Scott Hammond: Till now. Uh, thanks for joining us. Appreciate you, and thank you, Michael.
Michael Keleman: Thank you. I appreciate the time.