Dear Team:
Today, I am announcing a senior leadership transition at YKHC.
Jim Sweeney, Vice President of Hospital Services, announced his retirement from YKHC last month and Susan Wheeler, former Director of Pharmacy, is YKHC’s new Vice President of Hospital Services. I wish Jim the best in his new chapter of his life and thank him for his tireless service to YKHC and our customers these past 18 years. Jim was a major contributor to the design and opening of our new hospital. As it turned out, the new hospital opened just before COVID-19 hit our region. We worked tirelessly during that time at prevention, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19. Many nights were shared by Jim and I and others on the Tiger Text app communicating our efforts of the day and our plan for the next. For that, I will always be grateful! I also look forward to Susan joining my team and am excited about Susan’s new role to provide quality services to our customers. Below is a farewell from Jim and an introduction by Susan. My best to you both.
Dan Winkelman, President & CEO
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YKHC has been a large part of my life for the past 18 years. You are a remarkable group of individuals and together you accomplish incredible things for the people of our region every day. The dedication shown during the COVID-19 pandemic is a great example of this. Throughout it all, everyone continued to perform their duties to ensure we provided the best healthcare possible for our region. It has been an honor and a privilege to work with all of you.
As I look forward to my retirement, I plan to live in Fairbanks, Travel, and spend quality time with my family. I will be heading to the East Coast in June for a bit, followed by Europe in the fall. I wish you all good luck in your future with YK or wherever you may go. Finally, I am really looking forward to deleting the Tiger Text app!
Thank you all.
Jim Sweeney, VP of Hospital Services
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I came to YKHC in 2006 newly graduated from Washington State University School of Pharmacy. I quickly learned how important each member of the health care team is to all of our customers, and felt so grateful to be a part of it. I worked as a staff pharmacist, and then as a lead pharmacist in the outpatient and inpatient pharmacies until late 2011 when I had the opportunity to join the Electronic Health Record (later named RAVEN) team to build our EHR. That experience gave me the opportunity to work with an even broader group of people from across YKHC and to learn more about how each area of our organization is connected with many other areas in very important ways. During my time in the EHR department I had a variety of roles, including: EHR pharmacist, EHR Director of Clinical Informatics, EHR director and Interim Chief Information Officer. I made my way back to the pharmacy as the Director of Pharmacy in July 2018 and since then have been involved with projects to improve care related to inpatient pharmacy, outpatient pharmacy, and ambulatory pharmacy.
Along the way, I have been blessed to work with many amazing people who continually do their best to provide great care for the people of the region. I am excited for the opportunity this role will give me to associate with more YKHC employees and customers, and to find ways that we can work together to improve the quality of care we deliver.
My husband Ryan and I came to Bethel in 2006 with our 2 year old daughter and a plan to stay for 3 years. We quickly discovered how great the area, the people, and the work are and have made Bethel our home. Ryan is a school social worker for LKSD and we have three children, Jordan (19), Ethan (14), and Saige (12).
Susan Wheeler, VP of Hospital Services