PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center is pleased to announce that Gary Foster assumed the responsibilities of Chief Operating Officer on Oct. 1, 2018. For the past eight years Foster served as hospital administrator for Banner Estrella Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. During his tenure, Foster successfully led the hospital through a period of tremendous growth as it expanded from 48 beds to 317. Foster embraces a shared leadership culture, which has helped build positive workplace environments with employee engagement scores 10 percent above national benchmarks.Prior to his time as hospital administrator, Foster served Benner Estrella as director of nursing, critical care and progressive care. He has also worked in nurse management for Del E. Webb Medical Center in Sun City West, Arizona.
Foster says he looks forward to helping serve the health needs of southwest Washington. “I began considering PeaceHealth after reading about the Mission and Values and how well it aligned with my own,” said Foster. “After meeting people at PeaceHealth, I was so impressed at how the Mission is lived every day. For me it’s about impacting not only the lives of those in the hospital but those in the community as well. I am looking forward to this new journey and I am excited to get to know new people, a new place, a new community.”
In his role at PeaceHealth Southwest, Foster will be focused on increasing operational efficiencies and supporting PeaceHealth Southwest’s Clinical Excellence initiatives.
About PeaceHealth Southwest
The region’s health care leader and steward for 155 years, PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center is a community-owned, not-for-profit, 450-bed, medical institution located in Vancouver, Washington. Repeatedly recognized nationally as a 100 Top Hospital, PeaceHealth Southwest provides a full range of outpatient and inpatient diagnostic, medical, and surgical services to Clark County residents. PeaceHealth Southwest is also one of Clark County’s largest employers with 3,400 employees and 600 active medical staff members that help support dozens of medical specialty services and programs, including cancer, heart, emergency, trauma, neuro-musculoskeletal, family birth, and primary care. For more information visit http://www.peacehealth.org/southwest.