Molitor

JOHN DAY — When you have the word “interim” in your title, you don’t have a lot of time to ponder before deciding on a course of action.

Margie Molitor understands that.

Barely two weeks after she started work on Dec. 2, the Blue Mountain Eagle caught up with the semiretired health care executive from Wyoming who is serving as interim CEO of the John Day-based Blue Mountain Hospital District while the board searches for a permanent successor to Cam Marlowe. Marlowe stepped down Dec. 1 after about two and a half years on the job, citing health concerns.

During an interview in her office, Molitor did not hesitate when asked about her priorities.

“No. 1 is recruiting providers,” she said.

After more than 40 years in the health care industry — as a certified nursing assistant, registered nurse, chief nursing officer and, for the past 20 years, chief executive officer — she knows how badly many rural health care organizations struggle to hire and keep doctors, nurses and other care providers.

But she also knows from her previous stint at Blue Mountain — she served as interim CEO for five months in early 2015 — that the area has plenty to offer, from a relaxed rural lifestyle to scenic vistas, wide-open spaces and abundant outdoor recreation opportunities.

“It’s a beautiful place — people just have to come out here and see it to understand what they’re coming to,” she said. “We have to recruit people who enjoy this kind of community and want to stay here.”

She also wants to cultivate local talent, showing young people and mid-career workers that the hospital district is a good place to work and helping them develop in their careers.

“We can grow them,” Molitor said. “I’m hoping we can reach out to people in the community who want to learn a new skill and a new career.”

One example: The hospital district is offering a new incentive program for people who want to become certified nursing assistants. The district plans to hire qualified applicants before they begin their CNA training. It will then pay for their training course, pick up their testing fees and pay their wages while they’re in the class, with the understanding that the newly minted CNAs will continue to work for the district.

No. 2 on Molitor’s list of priorities is helping to recruit her replacement. She will be working closely with Chair Amy Kreger and the rest of the hospital district’s board to find the right person to lead the district into the future.

Nos. 3 and 4 go hand in hand: communication, and rebuilding trust with the community.

She’s already begun working on improving internal communications with staff.

“I started by doing weekly updates with staff … just keeping them in the loop” on what’s happening at the hospital, Strawberry Wilderness Community Clinic, Blue Mountain Care Center and the district’s other operations, she said.

Since she’s been back, Molitor said, she’s heard repeatedly from staff that they want better communication from the top — and she also thinks that’s the best way to begin regaining the trust of the Grant County residents the district serves.

“The best advertising for any organization is its people out in the community,” she said. “If they know what’s going on, they can be great ambassadors. That’s the best way to start improving that relationship.”

Molitor said she’s been continually impressed with the caliber of people working at the hospital and its satellite operations. She also touted the hospital’s high-tech diagnostic equipment, from X-ray and EKG machines to 3D mammography, a DEXA bone-density scanner, large-bore MRI machine and 80-slice CT scanner.

Too many Grant County residents, she said, think they have to go out of town to access the best medical care when, in many cases, they can get it right here at home. She’d also like to see more residents at Blue Mountain Care Center — the Prairie City facility has 40 long-term care beds but only 15 residents — as well as more business for the hospital’s rehabilitation, swing bed and surgery programs.

Getting more local residents to use those services not only keeps them close to home, it also improves the hospital’s bottom line — so it can continue to provide all the services local residents need.

“There’s good stuff going on up here, and I need to figure out why people are going out of town for their health care,” Molitor said.

“I want to be the provider of choice. We’ve got the services, we just need to grow our volume.”

The Molitor File

Name: Margie Molitor

Occupation: Interim CEO of Blue Mountain Hospital District

Background: Semiretired health care executive from Thermopolis, Wyoming

Family: Husband Leon; son Nathan and daughter Megan, both of Sheridan, Wyoming; stepsons Todd of Hot Springs, South Dakota, and Lyle of Douglas, Wyoming; five grandchildren

Etc.: Molitor served as Blue Mountain’s interim CEO once before, from mid-January to mid-June 2015