Our Leadership

Aspirus knows how to deliver rural health care, which is a great fit for the communities we serve. Our hospitals and facilities cover large and small communities across Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and northeastern Minnesota. 

In my mind, we are a niche health care system. What separates us is our expertise in the care and services we deliver through our facilities. In rural health care, it is important to be creative and strategic to continue serving your communities. Few systems are growing when it comes to providing rural care, but Aspirus continues to grow and thrive despite a challenging and dynamic health care landscape. 

We value foresight and frequently plan and push our growth mindset to stabilize and transform our communities together. It can be tough, but our integrated operations and strategy ensure we can keep high-quality care local and continue to serve our patients no matter where they are located. 

At Aspirus, we have multiple generations of staff working together. Like so many other industries, health care is also dealing with a change in how employees find a balance between work and life. It is crucial to ensure everyone across our organization feels appreciated and heard, and we strive to meet our employees’ needs. This is especially true for our nurses — whether they are serving in an intern role, starting their first shift in the ED, or leading a team with a decade of experience. 

We also know that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed health care employees out of the industry. We know we must create and transform health care and our own health care models that focus on reducing workload by augmenting care with technology and other innovative solutions to account for the emerging workforce dynamics. 

There is a new generation of nurses coming into the health care industry. They want to have a wide variety of experiences in patient care and learn how to navigate their careers. Our integrated health care system provides opportunities for nurses in multiple venues to include ambulatory and clinic settings, home care and hospice, support roles, and inpatient care. Our New Graduate RN Apprentice Program allows them to experience different areas of nursing and gives them the opportunity to pick an area that fits their interests. It is a powerful way aspiring nurses and those in training can experience multiple service areas to make informed career decisions. 

Aspirus is also actively recruiting and partnering with a variety of nursing and trade schools and colleges to identify and train the next generation of nurses. One main goal of our educational partnerships is students becoming more familiar with the nursing profession and entry-level positions that are on the nursing and clinical career pathways. 

I have always been a big advocate for women and diversity in leadership in health care. Health care is tough. But what you learn about yourself, and patients is beyond impactful. I have always espoused that a key to success is to build relationships, trust, and credibility, and this comes from being authentic. This is especially important for leaders in health care. But at its core, you must be driven, inspired and love what you do. The best leaders in our industry I have seen show up with confidence and believe in the value they and their teams bring to patients and the health system. 

As a woman in leadership, you must stay informed, tap the collective genius of diverse perspectives, be willing to take risks, and be comfortable with being uncomfortable, which means you are growing. This includes being agile taking on a variety of roles and accountability within a health system or in health care. 

With growth and risks may come mistakes, but if you fear failure, then you squash your ability to be creative and offer new solutions to old problems. You can also exercise humility, learn, and serve as a coach to help others avoid the same mistake you made.