St. Francis Hospital’s CEO is stepping down as the organization tries to rebound from a year of negative events.
Sherlyn Hailstone will resign as executive vice president and chief executive officer of St. Francis Hospital Nov. 9. Hailstone announced her resignation after she accepted a position as president of SSM St. Joseph Health Center in St. Charles, Mo. She has been president of St. Francis, 355 Ridge Ave., since 2001.
Hailstone said the move was a personal decision.
“I’m relocating to St. Louis to be closer to my family,” she said. “I lived and worked in St. Louis for the first 25 years of my career. I just wanted to get back.”
Mark Pelletier will serve as interim CEO, Resurrection Health Care officials said. Pelletier was the former chief operating officer of Resurrection Health Care’s Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines, Ill.
“We expect that it will take several months to find a qualified, competent replacement for Sherlyn Hailstone,” Public Relations Director Christine Rybicki said.
Hailstone became CEO four years ago, taking over for Kenneth Wood. Wood served one year as St. Francis CEO before Hailstone arrived.
As CEO Hailstone approved plans to renovate the hospital’s patient-care units, and to construct a new heart center and obstetrics unit.
“I feel like we’ve had a very positive four years,” Hailstone said. “We did a tremendous amount of construction and renovation.”
Hailstone also did a considerable amount of damage control during the past year. The hospital and Resurrection Health Care have been hit with a series of negative events beginning in late 2004 when uninsured patients complained that Resurrection hospitals denied health care and took drastic measures to collect on overdue debts. Resurrection is legally obligated to provide free health care to uninsured patients because it is a charitable organization.
In April the body of a Skokie man was found at the base of St. Francis’ parking garage. The cause of death was later determined to be suicide.
Two stillborn babies have been found in St. Francis’ laundry since October of last year. Hospital workers found the remains of an infant in February after sorting linens. In October 2004 the remains of a baby boy were found in linens that had been laundered at St. Francis.
“Those particular incidents in the laundry were related to another facility that used our laundry equipment,” Hailstone said. “Those unfortunate incidents had nothing to do at all with the operation of the hospital.”
The hospital’s financial reputation was called into question when a referendum asked for an examination of Resurrection Health Care’s tax-exempt status earlier this year. Evanston voters defeated the referendum.
Negative publicity surrounding St. Francis was not a contributing factor in her decision to resign, Hailstone said.
“It’s a very demanding job, and sometimes the needs of the organizations change,” Hailstone said. “In my situation, the needs of the individual changed.”
Reach Vincent Bradshaw at [email protected].
