The new hospital CEO says …

Folks in the Fort Smith area are so hospitable that they’re likely to forgive Melody Trimble for never having visited Graceland.

That Trimble readily admitted — “I drove through but never stopped.” — to not making the holy and wholly American pilgrimage suggests the new CEO of Sparks Health System will be relatively transparent in her new post.

It’s in the new post in which Trimble also is likely to enjoy our collective and gracious benefit of the doubt for a few months — maybe even the first year — as she works to ensure that Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates begins to benefit from its $138 million purchase of Sparks Health System. At some point, however, she’ll make tough, unpopular and potentially misunderstood decisions. A person doesn’t get to manage more than 2,000 people and about 250 doctors within a system that sees around 13,000 patients a year and enjoy universal approval.

The self-proclaimed “Army brat” officially walked into her new office Dec. 1. Her initial goal is to walk every square inch of the large Sparks complex get to know the people and processes. She says a CEO can’t adequately function without “meeting the people on their turf, because it’s all about relationships.”

A short-term goal is to move the hospital’s administrative offices to the main hospital facility. The offices are now in a building separate from the hospital. Her primary long-term goal indicates she has no fear of creating high expectations.

“You want a headline? Here’s your headline: ‘Sparks will be known for the most outstanding quality and service,’” Trimble explained.

Well, CEO Trimble, we’ll hold that headline in our headline holder thingamajiggy and hope we soon get a chance to use it.

But who is this Trimble person? And who does she think she is coming here talking quality and service and office-moving and only driving through Graceland? I mean, how does one drive through Graceland, anyway?

For starters, Trimble knows John. Although she was born at Fort Belvoir, Va., she spent many of her formative years in the eastern Kentucky area around Paintsville. She knew John and his family before he was one of “The Unforgettables” or Coach Pelphrey. Trimble was there to send off the newlyweds when John married Tracy. Tracy’s sister has babysat for the Trimbles.

“I’ve made a few calls,” Trimble said with a grin when asked if she’d thought about having Coach Pelphrey come to the hospital for an event. (Although, considering Pelphrey’s season so far, she might want to hurry.)

Trimble is the only daughter among four brothers. Her husband Michael is a former Realtor, and is working to move portions of the family to Fort Smith from the Venice, Fla.-area. They have two daughters. Mary is an emergency room nurse and has a little boy, Hunter. The other daughter, Michaela, is a sophomore at the University of Florida who plans to be an attorney and writer.

Trimble the CEO doesn’t have a favorite sports team. She asks her husband who he likes and that’s who she roots for.

She says her favorite U.S. president of the 20th century is Ronald Reagan.

For Christmas, Trimble wants “all my little ducks (family)” in one home. “Moving here (to Fort Smith) was our Christmas present,” she said, adding that she already loves the mountains and valleys and other area scenery. Her husband is looking for a place to build a home. She wants a big fireplace. They have spent little time in the previous two homes they built, but Trimble wants to settle here. “I know I’m here for the long-term,” she said.

Given the chance to do nothing for a weekend, Trimble would do something quiet and simple. “I love quiet. … I love to read. I could sit on a mountaintop and do that.”

If she was stuck for an extended period of time in some remote location and could only bring a sampling of music from three artists, Trimble selected Il Divo, Kenny G and “anything Christian rock.”

Here, Kind Reader, is our first hint of trouble with this new CEO. She claims to be a country girl with simple tastes yet is willing to be tucked away with the sounds of Kenny G, Christian rock and Il Divo — a Euro-pop opera group, for chrissakes! One might have expected Skynyrd or Haggard or at least something you might listen to while at a bonfire or a tailgate party or to merely experience some measure of auditory pleasure.

She said in the Dec. 2 interview it would be a close score, but Florida would beat Alabama for the SEC championship. (Wrong, and wrong.)

Her favorite guilty pleasure food is butter pecan ice cream at Braum’s.

When given the choices Star Trek and Star Wars, Trimble says the better science fiction franchise is Star Trek.

Her two pet peeves are “people who do not follow up on promises,” and “people who don’t think of others first.” So, if you ever promise Trimble that you’ll think of others first, well …

Trimble would operate an orphanage for kids if she were not employed in the medical field.

The most famous person she ever met was a person she didn’t realize was famous. It was in an elevator many years ago when she began to chat up this tall guy. They had a brief but friendly talk. When the ride ended, Trimble’s friends wanted to know if she got Troy Aikman’s autograph. She had not.

The best advice she ever received was to just be herself.

“You have to go with ‘The Duke,’” Trimble responded when asked who did the better Western movies, John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.

Her favorite city to visit is not New York, Chicago, Las Vegas or any big city. It’s Radcliff, Ky., just outside Fort Knox. It’s where her mother lives.

“Blindside” is the last movie (as of Dec. 2) Trimble saw in a movie theater. “That is an amazing movie. That’s going to be a home run,” she said of a movie about football.

Trimble may work out, but we’re all going to have to pitch in and help boost her sports knowledge. And maybe as a birthday present we also pitch in for tickets to Graceland.