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Colonel Brodes H. Hartley Jr. has significantly impacted health care in South Florida and the nation over decades of service and devotion to the industry. It‘s a labor of love that he continues even at the age of 86, working longer hours than anyone else at Community Health of South Florida (CHI). During his tenure he has brought innovative ideas and strategies to the table to guide CHI, the Health Choice Network, and the healthcare community to unchartered territory, blazing the trail for progress in and improved quality of care and access for all.
Colonel Hartley served 26 years on active duty in the Army Medical Services Corps. He completed his basic officer training in Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. He was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia to serve as a medical platoon leader. In 1958 when he got an opportunity to go to Germany with his unit, he extended his commission. On his return to the U.S. in 1961, he decided to make the military his career. He completed t raining in the Advanced Officers Corps and was assigned to the assistant registrar at a hospital on the Fort Ord military base in Monterey, California. Unexpectedly he was reassigned to the procurement qualification branch of the U.S. Army Surgeon General‘s office in Washington, D.C., the office focused o determining medical eli gibility for military service, including famous potential recruits like Joe Namath.
In 1966 he was sent back to Fort Sam Houston to get a master‘s degree in hospital administration. Then in 1968, Hartley was assigned to the 93‘d evacuation hospital in Long Binh in Vietnam, where he served as executive officer. Hartley recalls that his hospital got all the casualties, and many had to be evacuated out of the country. The next year he returned to the surgeon general‘s office for a special project, Modernizing of Routine Physical Examination, which focused on multiphasic screening systems for the armed forces examining stations.
After two years he went to Japan from 1971 to 1974 as executive officer at Camp Zama, a 500–bed hospital. Colonel Hartley stayed in the military for another 12 years, including an assignment to Aberdeen Proving Ground Hospital in Maryland as executive officer; graduate study analysis, policy, and planning from Florida State University; and research at the Academy of Health and Sciences on pharmaceutical services at army hospitals. Hartley attained the rank of colonel. In January of 1983, he ended his career after service as executive officer at the U.S. Army Hospital in Nuremberg.
Once back in the states in 1983, he continued his love for helping to educate others. He served as Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of the School of Allied Health Sciences at Florida A&M University,
Soon, Col. Hartley began his tenure as CEO and President at CHI in 1984, the nonprofit federally qualified health care company had just two health centers. Today, Hartley has been the driving force behind the organization‘s astounding growth over decades. This year CHI celebrates 50 years of service, many of them, under the leadership of Hartley. CHI now has 11 health centers and 36 school–based centers. In addition, he has planned to add more health centers soon, including a center in Key West and Key Largo. Hartley was the driving force behind the expansion of CHI services into the Florida Keys. He opened the first community health center ever in the Keys in Marathon and later followed with one in Tavernier. His aggressive growth plan has helped drive success in the organization and ensure that everyone has access to quality health care.
