Baxter Regional Medical Center Featured in Arkansas Money & Politics
At just over 12,000 souls, Mountain Home, Arkansas, shares a lot of the same characteristics of hamlets across the Natural State and elsewhere.
Except in self-image. While many small towns struggle with population loss, job stagnation and lack of opportunity, this community has kept population steady, rebuilt its downtown district and packs in retirees and tourists alike on the strength of area scenery, pace of life and fishing.
And one of the big drivers of the town’s health, literally — to say nothing of its regional reputation — is its homegrown hospital, attendant clinics and other elements of a first-class health care system. Truly, if there’s one thing to encapsulate the town’s can-do attitude, it’s Baxter Health.
“When I came to Baxter, I was very specific in what I was looking for,” said Ron Peterson, president and CEO, who arrived in Mountain Home 14 years ago. “I wanted a hospital that provided urban medicine in a rural setting because I believe it can be done, and people in a rural environment deserve that.
