Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1141789
78 "Volunteer somewhere or find somewhere you can help peo- ple on a more immediate basis." That's how I got into teaching yoga. The second piece of advice came from a violin instructor in high school. I was getting really frustrated with a part of one piece of music. After many failed attempts, I just couldn't get it. Finally, my instructor said, "Put down your instrument. At some point you must enjoy the process and appreciate the fact that you haven't figured everything out and that it's not going to be perfect. You have to enjoy the journey. Look back to where you were a year ago, look at where you are now, and look at where you're going." That's always stuck with me. As you get thrown curveballs, especially in healthcare, it's okay. It has al- lowed me to laugh in tense meetings and realize that we're all doing good things, and it's a process. Q: What do you consider your greatest achievement at Sanford so far? AS: Sanford is a health system with a broad footprint. Being in North Dakota and South Dakota, we've got a lot of physicians and clinicians in very remote communities. So, we're lucky to be on an integrated system, having physicians coordinate to- gether with their teams. In the last few years, we really worked to improve quality in primary care. We adopted Minnesota's community measures, and we were able to provide physicians with their quality data. We looked at quality data as teams and as individuals. Then we were able to create a system around those care teams and physicians to help them meet those measures and really improve the quality of care in our com- munity. We've seen huge strides with that transparency of data and quality measures, and huge strides in our improve- ment on those measures. Primary care and family medicine are the backbones of our organization. We have hundreds of primary care physicians taking care of all these small communities in South Dakota and North Dakota, who we want them to get best care they can wherever they are, not just in the big cities. I'm proud that we found a system to ensure that high quality is standard ev- erywhere, and that it's close to home. n Hospital and health system executive moves Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health select- ed Chad Patrick to serve as CEO of 763-bed Mission Hospital, also in Asheville, effective mid-July. Baton Rouge, La.-based Franciscan Mission- aries of Our Lady Health System appointed Richard Vath, MD, president and CEO. Peninsula Community Health Services in Bremerton, Wash., selected Ben Wright to serve as CEO. Dalton, Ga.-based Hamilton Health Care System named Andrew Bland, MD, vice president and CMO. Mark Francis, president and CEO of Fruita, Colo.-based Family Health West Hospital, plans to retire in September. Birmingham, Ala.-based St. Vincent's Health System has selected Andrew Gnann to serve as president of St. Vincent's Birmingham and St. Vincent's Chilton in Clanton, Ala. Odessa, Texas-based Medical Center Health System selected Robert Abernethy to serve as interim CEO, effective June 17. West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Rennova Health named Michael Alexander CEO of Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center, effective June 10. Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health tapped Marion McGowan to serve as senior vice president of payer innovation as well as president and CEO of Health New England, effective July 15. Dayton, Ohio-based Premier Health ap- pointed Barbara Johnson executive vice president and COO. Mark Merrill, president and CEO of Win- chester, Va.-based Valley Health System, plans to retire in 2020. Dallas-based Medical City Healthcare named Carlton Ulmer CEO of Medical City Plano (Texas) and Medical City Frisco (Tex- as), effective July 22. Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Atlan- ta has tapped David Kent to serve as presi- dent and CEO. Lafayette (La.) General Health has appointed Amanda Logue, MD, senior vice president and CMO. St. Louis-based Ascension named Joseph Im- picciche transitional president and CEO. New London (N.H.) Hospital CEO Bruce King is planning to retire at the end of 2019. Duluth, Minn.-based St. Luke's Health System tapped Kevin Nokels to serve as president and CEO, effective Aug. 12. Gary Weinstein, president and CEO of Wash- ington (Pa.) Health System, retired June 30. UP Health System-Marquette (Mich.) tapped Jerry Dooley to serve as interim CEO, effec- tive June 19. Dignity Health's Northridge (Calif.) Hospi- tal Medical Center named Betsy Hart, RN, COO, effective June 1. Valhalla, N.Y.-based Westchester Medical Center Health Network has tapped Michael Doyle, MD, as executive director and CMO of Kingston, N.Y.-based HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley. Lee Ann Liska, CEO of Augusta (Ga.) Uni- versity Medical Center and executive vice president of health affairs at Augusta Univer- sity, resigned June 6. Springfield, Mass.-based Mercy Medical Center named Robert Roose, MD, CMO. UPMC appointed Mark Sevco president of UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Evanston (Wyo.) Regional Hospital select- ed Cheri Willard, RN, to serve as CEO and chief nursing officer, effective June 10. Akron (Ohio) Children's Hospital appointed Spencer Kowal CFO, effective July 15. Frank Sardone, president and CEO of Ka- lamazoo, Mich.-based Bronson Healthcare, is planning to retire at the end of 2019, end- ing a 23-year tenure. Denver-based UCHealth selected David ompson to serve as CFO of its northern Colorado region. e University of New Mexico Children's Hospital in Albuquerque named John Brandt, MD, associate CMO, effective July 1. Albany (N.Y.) Medical Center tapped Den- nis McKenna, MD, to serve as president and CEO, effective in 2020.