ONTARIO – Dina Ellwanger, the president of Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Ontario, doesn’t spend a lot of time contemplating accolades.
She’s usually focused on leading more than 500 employees in Ontario and at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City.
So, when she was named chief executive officer of the year by Apogee Physicians – one of the largest physician-owned groups in the nation – she said the news was a surprise.
“It was a huge shock. I didn’t expect anything like this,” she said.
Ellwanger traveled to Denver, Colorado, in June to receive the award at Apogee Physicians annual summit.
Apogee Physicians provides doctors to rural and urban hospitals under contract.
“Dina was honored for her long history of dedication to Apogee patients and providers. Apogee is in its 13th year in Ontario, in great part because of the culture that Dina has built,” said Dr. Dennis Klein, an Apogee division president.
Ellwanger was elevated to the post of president and chief nursing officer in Ontario in 2020. Before her promotion she served as the hospital’s vice president. In 2022 she also became president of Baker City hospital.
Ellwanger said the award “means a lot to me.”
Ellwanger, 54, said creating a family-like atmosphere at the Baker City and Ontario hospitals has always been a key goal.
“I stay in this world because of the culture and family dynamics. Anybody in our hospitals will bend over backwards for someone else. Everyone does everything they can to make the next person better,” said Ellwanger.
Ellwanger said while she is proud of the recognition from Apogee, she also sees the award as an acknowledgment of the important role small, rural hospitals play in building healthy communities.
“Leadership at small hospitals doesn’t get recognized as often as larger hospitals,” she said.
Health care runs in Ellwanger’s family. Ellwanger’s mother is a licensed practical nurse, a brother is a doctor and her twin sister is a radiology technician.
Ellwanger has also worked at hospitals in Baker City, Boise and Nampa.
When Ellwanger became the chief executive officer at the Ontario medical center, she faced the repercussions from the Covid pandemic.
She said the pandemic was a “difficult, difficult time.”
Yet the worldwide health crisis also proved to deliver benefits.
“The best thing we learned in a time of crisis is how the team came together. It was an accomplishment I would have not imagined,” said Ellwanger.
The pandemic, though, has receded in the rear-view mirror for Ellwanger and she said she faces new challenges. She said one of the biggest problems she and her staff must contend with is recruiting health care providers.
She said Ontario’s proximity to the Boise-Nampa area creates unique challenges to attracting physicians.
The Boise area “has way more variety and that is competition to get physicians to Ontario because we are so close to that urban area,” said Ellwanger. “In just the last six months we’ve change our recruitment strategy.”
One modification, for example, includes flexibility with a doctor’s call schedule or paying more compensation if a physician agrees to take on more patients.
“We’ve been trying to look outside the box for recruits,” said Ellwanger.
Ellwanger said the Ontario hospital has a “strong family practice structure.”
Yet she said more doctors who offer specialized care such as orthopedic surgeons are needed.
“We are constantly evaluating what we can do to get more surgeons. We send recruiting teams to residency and medical programs,” she said.
The modern-day paradigm of health care is one of change, she said.
“You have to wear multiple hats. We are not big enough to have a dedicated person for anything so at times you are not just the president but the chief operating officer or the chief nurse,” she said.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
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