Hospital hires a ‘local’

New CEO has long history in hospitals

The newspaper headlines that probably contributed to a leadership shake-up at Weston County Health Services also appear to have attracted an interim CEO, according to Cathy Harshbarger, a Wyoming native and Weston County resident, who was offered the job by the WCHS board last month.

Harshbarger told the NLJ that she has been spending time “back and forth” in Weston County for about 30 years because her mother-in-law, Jean Harshbarger, has owned the 4W Ranch near Newcastle for many years.

“She’s had some health problems, so I came to live here and was staying with them for a few months while she’s getting back on her feet,” she said, noting that she moved to the ranch around May 2023 and then moved into Newcastle in August of that year.

She said the News Letter Journal’s headlines this spring about challenges at the hospital, such as “More heads roll at the hospital,” grabbed her attention, and it prompted her to call board Chair Ann Slagle and offer to take on the interim CEO position.

The board interviewed Harshbarger twice and spoke with five of her references.

“They talked to each of those references a good hour anyway, 45 minutes to an hour because they were really trying to make sure, I think, that they had the right person,” she said.

Harshbarger grew up in Wheatland, and said she was 5 years old when she decided she wanted to become a nurse. She told the NLJ in a video interview on July 3 that she moved to Laramie in sixth grade when her parents began working for the university, and her first role in health care was as a “candy striper” (volunteer) in high school.

After receiving her associate degree from Western Wyoming Community College, Harshbarger earned her bachelor’s degree and a master’s in health administration from the University of Phoenix. She completed on-campus and online classes for both degrees from the University of Phoenix, which she attended so she could have the flexibility required to work and study at the same time.

Harshbarger’s hospital experience includes being a certified nursing assistant, a licensed practical nurse and director of nursing. She has performed interim work as a chief compliance officer and chief operations officer and filled in for the chief financial officer.

Harshbarger’s last position was as CEO of Melissa Memorial Hospital in Holyoke, Colorado. According to her LinkedIn profile, she was the interim CEO/chief clinical officer there from May 2019 through May 2020. She was the president and CEO of the hospital from May 2020 through December 2022, where she helped manage the crises of the COVID pandemic. Under her leadership, the hospital added more providers, built specialty clinics and gained its certification as a level four trauma center.

She has actually been in CEO positions twice, and reported that she started as an interim CEO in both instances. Harshbarger said she’s open-minded about becoming a permanent CEO at WCHS, and indicated the board invited her to apply for that position. For now, the interim position gives all involved a chance to test the waters.

“I offered interim because I really didn’t know what I would walk into, so to speak, and I wanted to make sure it was going to be a good fit for the organization and a good fit for me,” she said.

Harshbarger indicated that she enjoys working with the hospital’s employees, and she recognizes that the staff has been through a hard time. She wants to help rebuild relationships, trust and support, and believes she has the skills to help solve problems and nurture the hospital’s positive aspects.

“The community gets great care here, and there’s good people here,” she said. “It’s just a matter of getting the right leadership pieces in place.”

Harshbarger said she developed an interest in leadership after she was recognized for showing leadership skills, but the fact that she’s worked in hospice, home health, intensive care units and other areas helps her stay grounded.

“I still love being able to relate to the providers and the nursing and ancillary teams because I worked in that way, and so that’s pretty important to me to do that,” she said.

After trying leadership positions, however, she found that she enjoyed them because she could make a bigger impact.

“I really care about the people that I work with,” she said.

Harshbarger said she aims to be collaborative as a leader and to rely on subject matter experts to help her make decisions and find solutions. She believes that communication, which involves being accessible, visible and trustworthy, is integral for leadership roles.

Harshbarger said she enjoys working for rural hospitals in particular because she wants people to understand that these hospitals can provide good care. Without a hospital, a rural area typically struggles to survive because people need health care.

“We don’t do brain surgery and those kinds of things, but we’re not a Band-Aid station,” she said. “I have a lot of pride in being able to maximize what our people can do to take care of the community, and I like the challenge that there is with rules and trying to find resources to keep us going too.”

For example, she said, she was able to help Melissa Memorial Hospital secure a little more than $9 million in grants to support the hospital’s facilities. She strongly believes Weston County Health Services should be able to function as an independent hospital, which is possible with prudent spending.

She explained that hospitals need to be cautious regarding which grants they accept, handling the paperwork requirements and ensuring they listen to the community’s needs, but indicated grants can help the hospital finance projects that would otherwise take years to afford.

Harshbarger also feels that associating with hospitals that are bigger is fine, because it can help provide higher levels of care and more specialized care options, but being under bigger hospitals’ ownership is not, because it impacts the “feel” of the hospital.

“You tend to have a corporate structure to it, and I don’t know that people respond to that as well in the communities,” she said.

Harshbarger said anyone in the community is welcome to visit her at any point and she intends to get to know people in the community. She believes it’s important that people come to board meetings if they’re passionate about them, and the hospital can hold occasional town halls to address any sensitive areas the community expresses concern over.

“My goal is to really help improve the hospital’s work environment, the culture and to make sure that we’re sustainable into the far future,” she said. “I’m glad to be able to serve in the community that I live in.”