MIDLAND, Texas — There has recently been a change in leadership at Midland Health.
Stephen Bowerman is now the President and CEO for the health care provider. Russell Meyers, who previously held the role, is transitioning to a developmental role for the Midland Memorial Foundation, following 20 years in the Midland Health position.
The expectation is that things won’t change too much, as Bowerman worked alongside Meyers for over a decade.
Bowerman is a native of West Texas, and joined Midland Health in 2009 — most recently serving as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer — experience that has prepared him for this opportunity.
“We’re really starting to evaluate strategy and ‘how do we improve?' and 'how do we improve patient experience, and quality, and outcomes?'," said Bowerman. "Our financial position [has] never been stronger, we’re in a great position financially. The hospital [is] positioned well to improve, and continue to expand services and the quality experience that we provide [to our] patients.”
As Midland Health goes through a transition in leadership, Bowerman has big shoes to fill in replacing Meyers, someone he has high praise for.
“We never made decisions in our organization with him as the leader without considering the impact to our employees, without considering the impact to the community," said Bowerman. "I think he’s been an extremely important citizen for our community — and not just in Midland Health — but really in the Midland community as a whole.”
The mission for Midland Health is to provide leading health care to greater Midland, with a vision to make Midland the healthiest community in Texas.
Bowerman said he was a part of creating those goals, and he still believes in them, so he doesn’t expect any obvious change in the organization.
"There will probably be some nuance differences, but I hope that it's not a significant change for our patients, that they'll continue to see a great patient experience in our organization and have great quality outcomes when they come into our hospital," said Bowerman.
One area where Midland Health will continue to work is in fighting a constant need for more nurses by investing locally, a lengthy process they are excited about.
“We are heavily partnered with both Midland College and the University of Texas Permian Basin on their nursing programs," said Bowerman. "We think that the next generation of nurses are in high school right now, or maybe even in junior high. We’re not going to recruit the next 50 nurses from Dallas, or Austin, or San Antonio. They’re in high school and we’re going to have to identify them early.”
Bowerman mentioned he is encouraged by how stable their organization is, the strong and loyal workforce that they do have and an improved physician group that has recruited better than when he first started at Midland Health.
He also said that this was a dream job for him, and that his close partnership with Meyers through the years gives him confidence for this role.