Hospital’s temporary CEO is no ‘caretaker’

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Pat Wolfen, now in her third week as interim CEO of the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital, says she doesn’t plan to be a “caretaker” and instead will make changes that she feels are needed.

Wolfen replaces, at least temporarily, Chuck Wright, who stepped down in December after being the hospital’s CEO for three years. Wolfen was appointed by the hospital’s board to be interim director while the search continues to find a permanent director for the hospital.

A registered nurse with a master’s degree in business administration, Wolfen has served as a permanent and interim CEO at a number of hospitals during her 28 years in hospital administration and clinical operations. She said she expects the search for a permanent director will take at least six months.

While a lot of people in her position would just plan to keep the hospital running smoothly and allow the permanent director to make any changes that are necessary, Wolfen said she doesn’t operate that way and will be spending a lot of time — and taking a lot of reading material home — to assess the hospital’s condition and make changes that are needed after getting the hospital board’s approval.

She said the top priority at any hospital is finances, and although Wright said in his last press conference that the hospital is in good financial shape and is expected to be in the black by more than a million dollars this year, she is taking a look at the financial picture and working with a consultant that was hired to help the hospital’s chief financial officer.

Wolfen actually works for and is paid by B.E. Smith, the consulting placement firm hired by the hospital to find a permanent director. A former resident of Phoenix for 15 years, she said she welcomed the chance to come and work in the Southwest and be close to her daughter, who now lives in Phoenix. Her home is Huntington Beach, Calif., and she said her contract provides her with plane tickets twice a month to spend weekends in her home.

In a news conference held on her eighth day here, Wolfen said she is impressed with the operation and the staff here and is looking forward to the opportunity to be the temporary CEO. She has served in this type of capacity several times over the past few years, stepping in for as little as three months and as long as six months. She added that she will be here as long as it takes to find a permanent director.

While it’s unusual in the Smith operation for a temporary CEO to be chosen to be the permanent director, Wolfen didn’t completely close the door on the possibility, saying that’s a decision that is still several months away.

And although it’s likely she will only be here a short time, she indicated that she does want to be a part of the community to the point where she is looking too join one of the city’s service organizations and is waiting to be invited by one of them.

She said it was too early right now to talk about what kinds of changes are needed at the hospital since she is still studying the organization and how it runs but she indicated that she should have a clearer understanding of the hospital’s strengths and weaknesses in another month or so.