Leadership realignment at hospital
Wawick A familiar face at St. Anthony Community Hospital will soon be making Port Jervis her work home. Bon Secours Charity Health System announced last week that Leah Cerkvenik, executive vice president of St. Anthony Community Hospital, Mount Alverno Center and Schervier Pavilion in Warwick, will soon hold that position for Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis. Her replacement? Tom Brunelle, the current executive vice president for Bon Secours Community Hospital, will now handle the Warwick facilities. In a release from Bon Secours, the move was called “a strategic leadership realignment plan for its two Orange County campuses. The plan is designed to strengthen the system as well as position it for long-term growth and profitability.” Cerkvenik, a registered nurse, joined the staff of St. Anthony Community Hospital in 1983 and has held a variety of senior management positions including director of surgical services, assistant vice president of administration and chief nursing officer and vice president for nursing. She was appointed executive vice president of the Warwick Healthcare Campus in 2000. Since then, she has successfully developed a leadership team that has increased revenues by 56 percent. Cerkvenik led the development of several new product lines and also was involved in the development of a $10 million modernization and expansion project and three community-based diagnostic centers. She initiated quality improvement and patient and physician satisfaction teams which resulted in 48 national awards over the last five years, the Modern Health Care and Solucient 100 Top Hospital: Performance Leaders Award in both 2004, 2005 and again this year. Brunelle helped turn around the Bon Secours financial picture. After 17 consecutive years of financial losses, the hospital has been profitable in five of the last six years. He led the hospital to a top ranking in the national quality indicator program conducted and received many awards for improvements in customer service.