On Dec. 3, a charter bus carrying a youth football team from Dallas to Memphis crashed in Benton, killing one child and injuring close to 40 other people. Most of the injured children were taken to either hospitals in Little Rock or to Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton.
It just so happened that Dec. 3 was Michael Stewart's first day as chief executive officer at Saline Memorial.
"To get the call at 3 in the morning, knowing there wasn't anything I could do, but just come and observe, I got to see Saline and what it means to be Saline at that moment," Stewart said.
"We had doctors showing up because they had heard about the crash, and we had nurses showing," he said. "We were ready to take care of the patients as they came through."
Stewart said that during the process, a phrase that kept coming up was, "We are going to love on these kids."
"I told my wife, who was here at the time, 'We made the right decision in coming here,' because these people are all patient safety and loving on their patients," Stewart said.
Stewart brings with him nearly 15 years of health care leadership, having come from Navarro Regional Hospital in Corsicana, Texas, where he had served as CEO since 2006.
"I have experience in disaster," Stewart said. "I was in south Florida in the mid-2000s, when Florida was like a punching bag for hurricanes. I worked in California during the many wildfires and in Northwest Arkansas with tornadoes.
"From a hospital standpoint, I wasn't surprised by it because that is what we do. We are there for the happy days, like the birth of a new baby, and we are there for the tragedies -- tornadoes, fires and hurricanes.
"If anything, it was a moment of comfort. The team did what they needed to do and prepared for the next patients. "That's all we talked about: 'Are we ready for the next patient?'"
Stewart is a child of the military, having moved all around the country, including to Georgia and Washington state before settling in Killeen, Texas. He earned an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
He followed in his stepfather's shoes and served in the Air Force for four years before leaving as a captain in 2002. "When I was in my last duty station, I was in base operations, managing a military base from an infrastructure standpoint," he said. "For me, [working in a hospital setting] is the best mix of my base operation and my leadership experience and combining them into a hospital-operation position."
Carol Gore, who works as chief nursing officer for Saint Mary's Regional Health System in Russellville, said she worked with Stewart for about two years, and they still keep in touch regularly.
"Michael and I were not only co-workers but very good friends," she said. "I would describe him as an excellent communicator and an excellent boss. He is a wonderful friend, and he always puts quality and service above everything. "He is just a phenomenal friend."
It was actually Gore who persuaded Stewart to inquire about the CEO position with Saline Memorial. "I was serving at Saline Memorial in an interim position, and while I was there, I got to become very fond of the team at Saline," Gore said. "I happened to be on my way there when [Stewart] called to check in on me, like he often does, and I told him about the open position, and he said to tell him 'a little bit about the hospital.'
"Having worked with Michael previously, I knew, without a doubt, he would be a great fit for that organization. It fell right in with his leadership style, and I knew he would be a perfect fit for them."
Gore said that on the morning of the bus accident, she texted Stewart to see how he was doing. "He is resilient," Gore said. "In health care administration, we have a plan for the day, but it never works out that way -- things get injected into your schedule.
"What makes him an awesome leader is that he handles it calmly. What is best for the patient, the employee and the community -- he puts all that first."
Gore said what made their working relationship so great is he understood that the patient and the community are always No. 1, and he made decisions accordingly. "He was a huge team player, and he always wanted input from his team," Gore said. "He truly listened to you. He takes the input from his team and formulates a solid plan and a direction from that."
Stewart said he met his wife in Arkansas and has always had a fondness for the state. "Upon meeting the team here [at Saline Memorial], that's what blew me away," Stewart said. "They have a fabulous team that really cares about this community and this hospital. "Ultimately, I walked away with a feeling -- it was a great next step from a spiritual standpoint for me."
He said the new position gives him and his wife, Trisha, an opportunity to reset as a family in a new location, but also an opportunity to have an impact in the community and to continue to grow professionally.
"As we prayed about what our next steps should be, the fact that this came along in just that moment, it just felt right," Stewart said. Stewart is replacing Bob Trautman, who resigned this summer.
"To be here, to be trusted by the community, the patients and their families -- it is just an honor," Stewart said. "I just consider myself grateful to serve in such a capacity."
Stewart said he has three goals in mind while serving as CEO. "The first thing is to make sure I get an understanding of the needs of the community, the staff and the physicians and, most importantly, our patients," Stewart said. "The second is seeing what we can do to meet those needs, and the third has to be, how do we grow in our impact in meeting those needs?"
Stewart said that at this time, it is just important to him to listen more than he talks. "It is the first week, so everybody is trying to figure out what my priorities are, and the truth is, my priorities are the team's priorities," he said. "I'm just really trying to listen more and get an understanding of what people are saying. ..."... That's what I would like to do over the next 30 to 90 days -- really get a sense of things and hear what is not being said."
Prior to his role at Navarro Regional Hospital, Stewart served as chief operation officer at Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, where he oversaw a $12 million emergency-department expansion.
"Most of my career, I have been in rural settings, but one of the things that I know that is true in any setting, it is about relationships," Stewart said. "The last few hospitals I have been in, I have had the opportunity to hone a skill set around relationships, and I hope to continue to hone that skill set here."
Stewart said that while Saline Memorial is not the biggest hospital he has ever worked in, he said it has an opportunity to make a tremendous impact.
"The great thing for Saline Memorial is that our community is growing," Stewart said. "We have to update our vision to make sure we encompass what is going on in our community and make sure we serve the needs of the community the best we can."
NW News on 12/18/2018