Texas Health Springwood Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford How can we better serve our patients today?” These are Ramona Osburn’s first words when opening her weekly management team meetings. This respect and dignity for her patients is unmistakable at Texas Health Springwood Hospital Hurst-Euless-Bedford, a mental health hospital in Tarrant County where she is senior administrative director. Under her leadership, Texas Health Springwood has grown from a small 20-bed facility into a 70-bed fully functioning psychiatric hospital. Drawn into the field of mental health after seeing how people with mental illnesses were treated, Osburn is described as a visionary who is continuously looking for ways to decrease the suffering of those struggling with mental illness. “She always shows great concern for the welfare of others and is always involved in trying to find solutions to help patients with mental illness,” says Ross Teemant, director of the Seay Behavioral Health Center in Plano and a colleague of Osburn’s for nearly 10 years. “Health care access for patients with mental illness is her driving force and she is a true humanitarian,” says Teemant. Recently, Osburn opened an outpatient program for chronic mental illness patients who were consistently in and out of inpatient care. “She realizes the ties between physical and mental health and that by integrating the two in a treatment model you have a better chance of successful treatment,” says Teemant. Thanks to the program, these patients have achieved better stability of their chronic conditions and are able to function with a sense of control over their disease. A champion for mental health issues in the community and across the state, Osburn is a board member of the Texas Hospital Association’s Psychiatric and Chemical Dependency Council and a recipient of the THS Community Service Award and the Legacy of Women Award in Health and Human Services. “It is all about the patient to Ramona,” adds Teemant. “She has a passion for mental health care and excels at finding strategies that increase the focus on patient-centered care.” What drew you to the health care field? I was drawn to the health care field, specifically mental health, because I used to live in New Jersey as a child and my mom, my grandmother and I would take the bus into New York City to go shopping. When shopping I would see mentally ill people on the streets and I would see the way other people would shun them. One day we were waiting for the bus and I remember hearing a woman that was also waiting for the bus say, “I wish they would take all of these mentally ill people and put them in a camp away from society.” Ever since then, I had a passion to help the mentally ill. If a person is sick, whether mentally or physically, why as a society should we shun them and not try to help them? Who is your biggest inspiration? My biggest inspiration is Doug Hawthorne, the CEO of Texas Health Resources. The reason he is my inspiration is because of his vision for our health care organization. He is leading us on the path to focus on wellness and well-being and is focused on population health and how to keep our population healthy. He believes that well-being involves all aspects of wellness – physical, emotional and spiritual. What is your advice for people getting into the health care field? Go for it. There are so many opportunities out there and it is such a rewarding field. It feels good to go home each day knowing you touched someone’s life. – Lisa Logan