Reid Hospital Governing Board
Parker links community to Reid
Larry Parker
Good Information
Reid has a handle on the hospital's operating information that board members need to be effective, Larry Parker said. "I have never asked a question that I couldn't get answered within a day. All the information is presented so that we can make informed decisions."
Regarding his involvement with Reid, Parker said the learning curve was steep for the first year and continues. "I don't know that anyone who is not involved on a daily basis with the operation could ever learn all they need to know."
It has been very interesting, "he added," to learn about the hospital and appreciate both sides - the public and Reid's. "Facility and cost are important to both the hospital and the patient," Parker said.
Looking Ahead
"Facility planning is the most important issue facing board members in the future," Parker said. Reid's good stewardship of buildings and grounds may make the public question the need for additional or new facilities, he added.
"The community just doesn't understand that our present hospital, as good as it looks, doesn't meet ADA requirements."
Community
is important to Larry Parker, a Reid governing board member since
January 1994. Parker is one of three "community" representatives on the
board - named to the board because of the public office they hold.
A lifelong resident of Richmond, Parker represents the city of Richmond through his role as the senior Republican member of the Richmond Common Council. Parker's only time away from this area was when he went to Kentucky to attend college at Murray State University. He returned to Richmond with a teaching degree in business and industrial arts and a wife, Gayla, whom he met in college.
Parker's teaching career lasted three years, but during that time he had the opportunity to teach at the junior high, high school and college levels. He then went to work for Xerox. There, he was a senior sales microsystem executive, which, he quipped, translated to "salesman." In addition to copying machines, he sold microfilm and engineering equipment.
In the early 1980s, Parker was among nearly 50,000 Xerox employees over age 40 who were asked "if they would like to retire" (in anticipation of the federal mandate against age discrimination, Parker suspects). "I knew about making marks on paper, and decided to get into the printing business."
In 1981, he and Gayla, opened Bumblebee Quick Print. Since then, the company has more than doubled in size (from two to five employees) and doubled the size of its building. Today, Bumblebee has the capability to print all jobs but four-color process and offers a color copier. Envelopes and carbonless forms are a popular item for Bumblebee customers.
Parker also is vice chairman of Richmond Power & Light, former chairman of RP&L, past president of the Common Council and currently serves on the council's tax abatement and personnel committees. Between community service and business responsibilities, Parker and his wife like to spend time with their children, both Indiana University graduates, both married and both, like their parents, business owners and operators.
The Parkers' daughter, Sonya Collett, a former hospice nurse, lives in Seymour and is mother to the couple's two granddaughters, 3-year-old Claire, and 6-week-old Rachel. Their son, Keith, resides in Indianapolis.
