As she was starting her career as a respiratory care healthcare professional in 1999, Kim Needham encountered a neighbor near her Waukegan home. He was the CEO of what was then Victory Memorial Hospital and is now Vista Medical Center East.
“He said, ‘I understand you are in respiratory care. We need a director of respiratory care. Would like to interview?’ I live in the community, and I decided to try. I was offered the job, and I accepted the post.”
At the time, Needham said Victory was owned by a local foundation as a not-for-profit hospital. It also owned St. Therese Hospital on the other side of town. She worked at both hospitals, receiving several promotions until she became chief operating officer at Vista in 2009.
Needham was promoted to CEO of Vista Medical Center East Monday in Waukegan. She said she is committed to taking the needed steps to make the hospital profitable and more importantly build community trust.
Since Needham began her career at Vista, she has experienced five ownership changes and, since current owner American Hospital Systems (AHS) bought it nearly two years ago, three CEOs. The latest was interim CEO Aundrea Styles, AHS’s regional Midwest president.
Styles took control on March 10, replacing Kevin Spiegel who was there less than six months before moving to another AHS hospital in Florida. One of Styles’ immediate goals was finding a permanent CEO. It did not take her long.
“I knew on day two Kim is who I wanted,” Styles said. “I walked out of a meeting with Kim and knew this is the person to lead this hospital.”
Living in Waukegan most of her adult life, Needham said she has grown close to both her coworkers and many other people connected to the hospital. Taking the CEO position offers her the opportunity to help Vista in a challenging time.
“This is my home,” Needham said. “I live here. I want to make it the place where the 165,000 people in the corridor from North Chicago to Winthrop Harbor get quality healthcare in a full-service hospital.”
Along with her management skills, Needham said she believes she can help bring stability to the people who work at the hospital. Some are veterans of the hospital like her, while others are newer. With the changes over the years — and especially the past two years — she hopes to bring stability.
“People know me,” Needham said. “They know my style. This is all about taking care of people. We will work together and celebrate the wins together. When we do this, it says community.”
Catherine Monroe, a 15-year Vista employee, said she is pleased Needham is now the CEO. Monroe hopes she will bring stability to the workforce and direction from a familiar management style.
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“This will improve morale immediately,” Monroe said. “We all share the same values. People will know what to expect.”
When AHS purchased Vista, Faisal Gill, the company’s chief legal officer, said it was losing money, in part because of the existing debt it acquired when it purchased the corporation from Quorum Health. He said then he expected profitability in six months. It is still running at a loss.
A goal to improving Vista’s revenue stream is being designated a safety net hospital. The closest one to Waukegan is on Chicago’s West Side. The effort will gain steam with Needham as CEO and support from Styles. Styles said Vista is in the final stages of providing the necessary data.
Paying for treatment to Medicaid patients, Style said if Vista is approved as a safety net hospital in June, it can start to see revenue in September, but that is not a cure-all. Additional revenue will be needed.
“Revenue is a different picture,” Styles said. “Being a safety net hospital will put us closer to breakeven. Once breakeven is achieved, we can hit the debt.”
In January, Vista furloughed 70 non-medical employees for what was to be a six-week layoff. Needham said recently that 25 are back at work, and the other 45 were terminated, freeing them to seek work elsewhere.