Darrell Moore of Bee Branch doesn’t believe in coincidences, which is why he said his move from elementary teacher to hospital administrator was the right one.
“I have a strong Christian faith, and I believe people get led to places,” Moore said.
The 54-year-old chief operating officer of Ozark Health in Clinton is the new Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce board president.
Moore was born in Hot Springs, but he grew up in Bigelow. His father worked for what was then Deltic Farm and Timber. Moore’s mother was cafeteria manager for Perryville High School.
When Moore graduated from Bigelow High School, he started driving a bus for the Bigelow School District while attending the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
“I worked my way through college, and I was pretty much there for the classes, a few sports events, and other than that, I didn’t have a lot of ties there,” he said.
He did, however, meet the love of his life, Lanita, who also attended UCA.
“We dated each other’s friends for a while, even double-dated a couple of times. We were friends for, I guess, three or four years before we really started to date, and shortly after that were married.”
On April 14, the couple will celebrate their 31st wedding anniversary.
Moore said he was interested in accounting at first, but he changed to education. He received a master’s degree in education administration, as well.
His first job was as a fifth-grade teacher at Bigelow Elementary School; then he moved to South Side Bee Branch, teaching math and science to fifth- and sixth-graders for 22 years — “pretty much one room all that time,” he said, laughing.
“You learn — especially in the smaller
schools — you learn there
is an opportunity to give back,” Moore said. He volunteered with summer baseball and softball programs, parent-teacher organizations and more.
“Over the time I taught, it was in the smaller schools. You know most of the families, and there were very few incidents that anything very far out of the ordinary happened,” he said. “You didn’t worry about weapons at the school; sometimes the boys might argue back and forth, and they might punch each other once or twice, and it was over.”
Moore said he enjoyed making a difference in students’ lives.
“Whenever I would teach, I would try to have some little goals during the year,” Moore said. “There was one student — I don’t think there was anything wrong, but it was just his personality. My goal for the year was just to see him smile as often as possible; he was just a really solemn person. I did that over time.”
Moore takes pride in the fact that, as chief operating officer of Ozark Health, he often encounters physicians whom he taught.
“I would never presume to take credit,” he said, but he enjoys seeing his former students succeed. “It’s been interesting to see them,” he said.
During his summer breaks, Moore worked in residential roofing and lawn care, as well as construction and farming.
Although Moore said he enjoyed education, his wife, Lanita, and son Kyle encouraged him to expand his horizons and apply for a job at Ozark Health. In 2007, he was hired there as director of business development.
“It was a pretty easy decision to make to come to work here; this is a private, not-for-profit — freestanding [hospital] … a lot of local control,” he said.
After several years, he felt the desire to make a change.
“I felt like it was time to find something that was a little more challenge in my life,” he said. Moore became chief operating officer 2 1/2 years ago, and he reports to CEO David Deaton.
“I oversee the community health, yet I’m still over the foundation. I’ve picked up the responsibility for our specialty clinic; I oversee it. The clinical laboratory and radiology here in the hospital are in my scope of duties,” Moore said.
Moore said five managers report to him.
“I try to see them all every day and keep up to date on what is going on in their departments and also know how they are doing personally,” he said. “I also make an attempt to do rounds in the facility just to see how everyone is doing and see if there are any upcoming issues to deal with, or if there’s been something to compliment the staff on.” Moore said he also tries to walk through the attached nursing and rehab center.
“Along with that, I’m a little bit involved with the clinic operations with lab and radiology. Here’s the key — to have good people to work with. The ones I have really make me shine; the credit goes to them. It’s just getting the right person in there and then getting out of the way. I lean on them when I need answers.
“The best thing about my job, other than the people, is that I never know what is coming up next or what I will be doing next. It is not the same thing day after day.”
Medical Chief of Staff Steve Schoettle praised Moore for what he has brought to the position.
He said Moore, in his first position at Ozark Health, helped take the foundation “to a wonderful group that supports the hospital,” therefore increasing fundraising and a heightened community awareness of the hospital and how it is run.
When Moore became COO, “he made it tremendously easier for Ozark Health to thrive,” Schoettle said.
“He’s very relaxed, easy to talk to. The employees he deals with on a day-to-day basis enjoy dealing with him because he can interact at all levels,” Schoettle said.
Moore still finds time to be involved in the community and got involved with the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce about 5 1/2 years ago, and in January, he took over as the president of the chamber’s board of directors.
“I talked to the board when we had our first meeting in January — I said, ‘This is your board, and this is your town, and I am your president. Anything you know that the board needs to do, I’m willing to try that.’ I wanted it to be a group effort,” he said.
“I think without a doubt, I’m the oldest person on the chamber board. I listen to the ideas they have. My goals, though, would be to promote the businesses that we have in this area. We’ve done some different things. We’re not just the Clinton Chamber of Commerce; it’s the Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce,” he said. “One was a study about how to develop the downtown. … One of the things we’d love to do is have a couple of restaurants downtown associated with a couple of shops,” he said.
Moore said he would also like to see the downtown businesses stay open later than has been tradition.
“It would be nice to have improved lighting and people in the downtown area both before and after dark,” he said. “We also want the chamber to be a champion and a resource for our local businesses.”
Moore praised residents’ commitment to the city.
“There have been so many people I have met since I started this job eight years ago; they’re just good people. And, they have an interest. Some really have an interest, and they really push to make Clinton a good place to live,” Moore said. “Those are the ones you go to when you need something, if it’s chamber board, foundation or whatever.”
Although he missed teaching for a while, Moore said he doesn’t regret his choice to move from education to health care.
“I really did [miss teaching] for the first four or five years because I still knew things about the school and the kids I taught,” he said. “I’ve been out of it long enough that the face has changed somewhat, and the kids I knew graduated.
“Overall, it was a really good career, but I’m happy with where I am right now,” he said. “I have the best job in the world.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.