Interim hospital CEO sets sights on goals
Permanent CEO will be hired by February
Staff reporter
Don't let the title interim CEO fool you. Emmett Schuster, interim chief executive officer of St. Luke Hospital, works the job like it's his.
He wants the next transition to be as smooth as possible and doesn't want time wasted waiting.
"We're continuing the board's ideas of what the hospital needs to do," said Schuster. "We'll continue current processes and start some new projects."
Since his arrival in November, after then-CEO Thom Smith resigned after a year, he has contacted Mike Ryan, administrator of Hillsboro Community Medical Center.
"We discussed ways to provide better care to all county residents," said Schuster. Of course his goals are to provide the best care possible to constituents within the hospital district.
He's excited about improvements currently in-line for the hospital — a four-slice CT scanner and cardiac diagnostic nuclear medicine equipment.
The public will have a chance to see this equipment and learn their uses during open houses planned after installation.
Schuster just returned to the U.S. in January after serving a year as a battalion commander in Iraq, just north of Baghdad.
He was responsible for 1,500-1,800 soldiers who performed strategical logistics for the military.
Currently a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, Schuster was an officer in the U.S. Army from 1984 to 1993.
He is anticipating a promotion from lieutenant colonel to colonel in the coming weeks.
The elections in Iraq may necessitate his return to again serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
"If they call, I'll go," said Schuster. "I'm always ready to go."
He earned a bachelor of science degree in entomology in 1984 from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, and a master's degree in health services administration in 1995 from the University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Schuster served from 1996 to 2000, as hospital CEO and administrator in Eureka. He then held the same position from 2001 to 2004 in Hugo, Okla.
When he returned to the states in January, he was the on-site project officer for the construction of a new 40-bed community hospital in Oconto, Wis.
"That was a great experience for me," Schuster said, being in the north during winter.
He related how the ground had to be warmed before cement could be poured into forms and other measures taken to assure quality construction.
Schuster is a QHR employee, the same company that provides management consulting services to the hospital district.
He resides at Elgin House Apartments and returns two weekends a month to his home in Hugo.
Schuster is married to JoAnne and they have two children — Skip, 14, and Molly, 12.
QHR is in the process of soliciting and reviewing applications for a permanent CEO for the hospital. The agency will narrow the field to three applicants and have them come to Marion to meet hospital personnel and board members.
Schuster said the process should result in a new CEO by the end of January or beginning of February.
The CEO then would be employed by the hospital district board of directors through QHR as a contract employee.
Schuster sees his experiences as an interim officer as an opportunity to self-educate.
"These experiences will benefit me when I return to a permanent administrative position in the future," he said. "If I ever quit learning, I need to quit."
