The Greene County Medical Center board of trustees and its affiliation partner, UnityPoint Health – Des Moines, announced the hiring of a chief nursing executive (CNE) this week. Katherine (Katie) Heldt will join the medical center in early December.
Heldt will join Greene County Medical Center from Skiff Medical Center in Newton, where she has served as CNE since April. Prior to her position at Skiff, Heldt was part of the Iowa Health – Des Moines system (now UnityPoint Health – Des Moines) for seven years in a variety of positions including trauma program manager and emergency department manager. Heldt served as a staff nurse and RN manager at Dallas County Hospital in Perry from 1990 to 2005.
Joining the executive team at Greene County Medical Center will be a homecoming of sorts for Heldt for two reasons. First, since the CNE position is one of three key administration positions (including the CEO and CFO) employed by UnityPoint Health – Des Moines, she will once again be a UnityPoint Health employee. Second, Heldt will be returning to her childhood territory. She is originally from the Grand Junction area and graduated from East Greene High School.
Heldt’s success in leadership roles at Iowa Health – Des Moines, as well as her most recent CNE position at Skiff Memorial, will be an important asset for Greene County Medical Center as it moves forward. CEO Carl Behne said, “Katie brings to the medical center a diverse nursing background, strong nursing leadership skills and a shared vision of how the patient experience should look and feel.”
Heldt will replace longtime medical center employee Cindy Kail, who will be retiring at the end of the year after 27 years at the medical center, most recently as chief nursing executive and public health director.
Heldt and her husband Chris Weyer have three grown children.
