Jim Hall, “The Voice of Kadlec” retires after 30 years

The automated voice of Jim Hall is the first thing people hear when they call Kadlec Regional Medical Center. 

This month, after a career spanning three decades, the man behind the voice retired.
Hall retired on his 65th birthday Jan. 10. He served as the director of communication for most of his career, then for the last four years as the chief philanthropy officer.

Over the years he became known as the Voice of Kadlec, sharing information about health care and the hospital over the radio, on a podcast, on TV and through the automated messages. When he was diagnosed with cancer 18 months ago, he openly shared his cancer journey, too.

It was a remarkable career for a man who initially accepted a part-time job helping Kadlec with community outreach. Today, his lab tests and scans are showing no signs of cancer, and he is looking forward to retirement.

“Thirty years is clearly a long time, but when I look back, it seems to have gone pretty quick,” Hall said. “It feels really unusual to sit here and think I’m not working anymore, but it is a good feeling.”

Hall graduated in 1982 from Washington State University and started his first job as a newly minted journalist several days later with KEPR in the Tri-Cities. He worked in a number of positions over the years, including as anchor and news director, and also met his wife, Stacy, through the job. They both left KEPR in 1994, ready for something new but not entirely sure what that might be.

The call from Kadlec came at just the right time. The hospital had emerged from a 39-day nurses’ strike that left it and the community bruised. Kadlec wanted someone to organize a little community outreach.

“I thought gosh, it is a good time to see if I enjoy that type of work,” Hall said. “I wasn’t sure I would like it. I thought if I was going into public relations, it would have to be in an industry I believed in, and an organization I believed in. Kadlec represented both of those.”

He didn’t just like it. He loved it. Hall launched a TV program that ran for 25 years, hosted a radio show and podcast for 15 years, held many community events, and worked to communicate all things Kadlec to the community. Hall was the constant, reassuring voice through construction and advances, Kadlec joining Providence in 2014, and even a global pandemic.

He loved the annual raising of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month flag, made by hand by Kadlec’s sewing group.

He was delighted by the many toy drives, and the kindness of the community coming together to help hospitalized children.

He was moved by Kadlec caregivers organizing a bittersweet wedding in the hospital’s chapel for a young woman dying of cancer, and the man who loved her. He still remembers the “just married” sign adorning the back of her wheelchair when they left chapel as husband and wife.

He felt the embrace of the community when the public brought food to the hospital to support caregivers during the darkest days of COVID.

And he was humbled when the Kadlec Foundation and the Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation banded together for a collaborative campaign that raised $2 million to purchase a second da Vinci robot to enable people to get the surgeries they needed sooner without leaving the Tri-Cities.

Even when facing hard things, such as recognizing someone coming to the hospital for treatment of serious illnesses, he found reassurance in knowing that the caregivers he worked with at Kadlec would do their very best for them.

“I morphed from a news guy to a health guy to a Kadlec guy,” he said. “I think what I feel the most pride in is the way we helped people navigate their way through very complex health care situations. It can be very, very scary, and very stressful to have a health issue, and I think we were able to help many people through that.”

His own cancer diagnosis in July of 2023 reinforced that for him. It was a grueling ordeal that required chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and multiple hospitalizations. He is now cautiously optimistic. No sign of cancer has been detected since last spring.

“By all accounts, all of the labs and scans look good,” he said. “As of right now, I’m as good as I can be.”

He plans to spend his retirement supporting his wife, who he said, “put her life on hold for me”, walking the dogs, and enjoying family, friends and all that retired life has to offer.

“What I have experienced is coming full circle,” he said. “I have seen every component of care that I have talked about for 30 years. I feel such gratitude. I am overwhelmed with the way I was supported by my family, people within Kadlec, and by people I didn’t even know. Anyone who has been sick, they understand what that means.

“As I end my career, it is incredible to know that there is a support network here that people can rely on.”