Built to serve our friends and neighbors

The Lake Region is more than part of our name. It's who we are. And it's why we work around the clock to serve more than 40 surrounding ZIP codes with care designed to meet the specific needs of our community.

As the only hospital between Columbia and Springfield designated for stroke, trauma and heart attack care, we are equipped and ready to treat time-sensitive diagnoses.

We're committed to our community

We also extend our care deep into the surrounding community with 22 specialty clinics throughout the region, a medical helicopter ready to reach remote areas and programs like our high school athletic trainers, offered to schools at no cost.

Commitment runs deep through our organization

We pride ourselves on response, compassion and expertise, and none of those would be possible without our entire team working toward the same goal. Everyone impacts patient outcomes.

Melissa Hunter, R.N., MSN Senior Vice President, Clinical Services/CNO

Starting with us as an ER nurse, Melissa understands how to deliver exceptional patient care and how everyone within our system can positively affect outcomes.

Josh Lammert, MS, ATL, LAT, CSCS Athletic Trainer

Dedicated to the student/athletes of Camdenton High School, Josh is one of four trainers provided at no cost to area schools by Lake Regional.

Todd Cooper, M.D. Emergency Department Medical Director

Growing up at the lake as the son of a long-time, lake-area physician, Dr. Cooper has seen firsthand expansions in Lake Regional’s size and capability.

This is why we are here

Originally, Lake Regional was built to serve the people surrounding it. Throughout the years, we have invested in our facilities and expanded our reach, always with the well-being of our friends and neighbors in mind. Today, our clinics serve four counties.

Karli's story

Camdenton High School student Karli Wolfe heard a loud pop and felt intense pain as she collapsed on the volleyball court.

It was her left knee.

“I was hitting an outside ball and rotated the wrong way,” she says. “It was awful. I was afraid to look at my leg.” Wolfe had torn her ACL and her lateral meniscus.

Knee injuries, particularly ACL injuries, are common in high school athletes. ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament. It helps stabilize the knee and prevents the shinbone (tibia) from sliding out in front of the thighbone (femur). The lateral meniscus is a band of cartilage. It also helps stabilize the knee, plus it absorbs shocks.

“Recovering from even one of these injuries requires a serious commitment from the athlete,” says Lake Regional Physical Therapist Taren Kirk, DPT. “Tearing both the ACL and the lateral meniscus makes recovery that much more challenging.”

A strong athlete with plans to play volleyball in college, Wolfe made up her mind before she ever got off the floor that she would recover.

“I knew I had to have a positive attitude,” she says.

The first step was surgery. Then came eight months of intense rehabilitation therapy at Lake Regional Rehabilitation Therapy – Camdenton.

“The first seven months I was coming in three days a week after school,” Wolfe says, adding it was a big help to have the clinic just a few minutes away. But even if she’d had to drive farther, the care would’ve been worth it, she says.

“Everyone here was so encouraging,” she says. “My leg wasn’t bending at first like it should, but they told me to keep exercising and I would get good results. They helped me stay positive through the setbacks.”

Her care team strategized different approaches to help her, including some time in the rehab clinic’s pool for aquatic therapy. They also used a resistance band, weights, and balance and agility tools.

Wolfe’s injury happened at the start of her junior volleyball season, in the Jamboree game on Aug. 20, 2018. She worked on her recovery the rest of that school year and finally, the following summer, was released for sports — in time for her senior year of volleyball. She’s thrilled to be back with her team and looking forward to continuing to play volleyball at a still-to-be-chosen college.

When she was still in therapy, her care team told her to go full-speed when she returned to volleyball.

“And that’s what I’ve done,” she says. “They told me I could overcome anything, and I did.”