Aug. 6—AUSTIN — Texas Healthcare Trustees presents the Advocate of the Year Award to Melvin Woody of the Parker County Hospital District Board in Springtown. This honor is bestowed to a hospital board member who displays outstanding advocacy efforts on behalf of a hospital or health system.

Woody was a dedicated member on the PCHD board for 27 years, serving from May 1994 to June 2021.

In his time on the board, Woody played an integral part in the evolution of a rural hospital that not only survived but thrived as the result of some very creative and innovative thinking by the board. Campbell Health System, the local hospital in Weatherford, was owned and operated by the PCHD. Woody was one of the key leaders on the board of directors of the rural hospital before the board made a very strategic decision in 2006 to lease the hospital to a third party.

The hospital was leased by PCHD to Community Health Systems and became Weatherford Regional Health System. It was later leased to HCA, becoming Medical City Weatherford. Woody is regarded for his immense efforts to advocate for the transition PCHD from an independent hospital to the current partnership with HCA, as well as numerous other PCHD issues.

In 2019, PCHD decided that employing physicians directly would be beneficial for the district and the Parker County community. Unfortunately, the state law allowing hospital districts to employ physicians did not apply to Parker County because the county population exceeded the maximum allowed under that law.

Woody suggested that PCHD file its own bill in the Texas Legislature and amend its enabling legislation so that PCHD could employ physicians directly. While passing a bill in the Texas Legislature is never easy, Woody helped spearhead the team that convinced the Texas House and Senate to pass a bill as PCHD requested. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law and PCHD now has its own legislation allowing them to directly employ physicians.

In 2021 during the midst of the pandemic, Woody and the PCHD board were briefed on efforts to pass a state law that protected health care providers, schools and private businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits.

Woody wholeheartedly supported this legislation and was instrumental in PCHD's decision to send one of their EMT employees to Austin to testify in front of the Texas House in support of this bill. The testimony was well received, and the COVID-19 protection bill was passed into law. These efforts successfully protected health care workers during an extraordinary time for hospitals.