March 15, 2011     

 

 

 

Darlene Stromstad Named Next President and Chief Executive Officer of Waterbury Hospital 

 

The Board of Trustees of Waterbury Hospital is pleased to announce that Darlene Stromstad will join Waterbury Hospital as its new President and CEO, effective early July. Stromstad currently serves as President and CEO of Goodall Hospital in Sanford, Maine, where she has served the community for six years, guiding the hospital through unprecedented financial challenges during the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009. 

 

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Darlene Stromstad to the Waterbury Hospital family,” said Carl Contadini, Chairman of the Waterbury Hospital Board of Trustees. “We feel her background as a highly successful, community-minded health care executive is a perfect fit for the needs of our institution and the Greater Waterbury community. This is a critical juncture in determining the region’s ability to meet its health care needs, and we are confident that Darlene will uphold the hospital’s mission to continue providing the highest quality care to our patients well into the future.”

 

Stromstad was selected from a strong field of candidates by Contadini and a volunteer search committee, comprised of members of the hospital’s Board of Trustees, community representatives, and physicians and nurses representing the hospital’s clinical staff. 

 

“This needed to be a very thoughtful process,” Contadini said. “The hospital is in a moment of transition that will affect the entire community, and we wanted the valued input of a variety of stakeholders. We thank all of them for their service, and I believe that the process has resulted in us finding an incredibly strong candidate in whom we all have a great deal of confidence.”

 

During Stromstad’s tenure at Goodall, the hospital implemented an aggressive outpatient strategy, recruited numerous physicians, improved its quality scores and built a reputation as a caring business in the community. She became known in the state’s hospital industry for her advocacy for payment of overdue MaineCare (Medicaid) settlements, a position supported by newly elected Governor Paul LePage. Goodall is expecting to be paid several million dollars later this month of the $10 million owed through FY10.

 

“I am so pleased to be joining the Waterbury community,” Stromstad said. “I understand deeply how critical the role of a nonprofit community hospital is in sustaining the fabric of a city. While there are many similarities between the Sanford and Waterbury communities, I am also invigorated by the prospect of learning the unique dynamics of this region, and continuing Waterbury Hospital’s long history of providing quality care to the community. 

 

“This is a complex and fast-moving moment in healthcare, and I am excited to be at Waterbury Hospital to face the challenge. Working collaboratively with the Board, the civic and business leadership of Waterbury, and with the community at large, I believe that we have the opportunity to ensure that Waterbury Hospital has a bright, fiscally sustainable future providing care to the residents of this city and region.” 

 

Stromstad is presently a board member of the Sanford-Springvale Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Hospital Association and the community’s Growth Council. She is a past board member of the York County United Way and has chaired the American Heart Association’s Red Dress campaign for York County.  She is chair of the Synernet board, which is a regional hospital-owned services business.  Last March, Stromstad was elected to the national Board of Governors of the prestigious American College of Healthcare Executives for a three year term.

 

Prior to becoming CEO of Goodall Hospital in 2005, Stromstad was senior vice president at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, NH, a 320-bed community and tertiary heart hospital.  She also worked for Massachusetts-based Olympus Healthcare, a post acute care provider, and prior to that she was a vice president at St. Joseph Healthcare in Nashua, NH. A native of North Dakota, Stromstad has her BA from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, and her MBA from Rivier College in Nashua.

 

Members of the hospital’s search team included:

 

  • Deborah Beveridge, RN
  • Carl Contadini, Board Chairman
  • Daisy Cocco DeFilippis, Ph.D
  • David Griffin (former Board Chair)
  • Denise Trammel
  • Frederick Luedke
  • Jay Shetty, MD
  • Joel Becker
  • John Michaels
  • Lynn Ward
  • David Pizzuto, MD
  • Ralph DiPisa
  • Carl Sherter, MD, Chief of the Medical Staff
  • Sidney Horowitz, Ph.D
  • William Flynn, MD

 

Waterbury Hospital is the largest private employer in the Greater Waterbury region, and serves a vital role in the economic vitality of Western Connecticut. It is a private, non-profit acute care teaching hospital licensed for 367 beds and affiliated with the Yale School of Medicine, the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Founded in 1890 as Waterbury’s first and Connecticut’s fourth hospital, Waterbury Hospital is a full-service community health-care institution with centers of excellence in primary care, cardiac services, behavioral health and orthopaedics.