Michael Stewart’s mission: Northwest Health Springdale

Michael Stewart knew early on in life he would be a leader.

But this passionate, chief operating officer at Northwest Health System in Springdale wasn’t always so sure he’d end up in Arkansas.

Stewart, a savvy, 30-something executive, spent much of his childhood traveling the globe as military brat and a preacher’s kid. With his family members finally settling down in Florida, Texas, Chicago and Kansas, Stewart came to Arkansas after climbing up the management chain by way of Miami and Santa Cruz, Calif.

“I knew my work would need to be mission-oriented in either health care or education,” Stewart said. “I admired my seventh grade Algebra teacher because he was such a professional, he wore a tie everyday and was one of a very few African-American educators I had known up to that point.”

'BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE'
Stewart obtained a mechanical engineering degree from Texas A&M University and then entered the U.S. Air Force with the intention of becoming a pilot. He soon transitioned to engineering.

He said the military talked with him about becoming a consultant, but he opted to get his master's degree in business administration from the University of Texas in Austin.

“During my time at Texas I had the opportunity to work with several industries both domestic and abroad. I was recruited by both large industrial and retail companies. But someone in the health care industry pulled me aside and asked me consider the possibilities of hospital administration. I immediately saw health care as a mission field opportunity and jumped aboard.” Stewart said.

While in the process of completing his three-year residency as a hospital administrator, Stewart said the company encouraged him to become a consultant.

“I accepted the role of consultant because it afforded me the opportunity to travel and work in numerous hospitals as opposed to learning the day-to-day management of a single facility. While my colleagues were getting depth of knowledge, I was getting breadth of knowledge,” Stewart said.

He landed the job in Springdale less than three months ago, and is determined to buy a home in the city, establish personal roots and get the $11.7 million hospital expansion completed in the next year.

Stewart is a mover and a shaker challenging the hospital staff of 900 to focus intently on the tenets of effective servant leadership — striving to be a sum which is greater than all of its excellent parts.

THE HOSPITAL EXPANSION
Northwest Health Springdale is the flagship, the largest of the three sister facilities in the local network. The hospital is an affiliate of Community Health Systems, based in Franklin, Tenn.

Community Health Systems has 130 hospitals and is the second largest publicly traded hospital group, behind Hospital Corporation of America, according to marketing director Pat Driscoll.

Stewart brings a new energy to Springdale, and quickly began organizing his staff with in-house leadership training and focus groups because he said people are the human capital in the organization who will be the difference between good and excellent health care.

He said challenging really smart people to engage in healthy debate will ultimately help the hospital push out from old restraints and allow it to soar to new heights.

“I want to be part of the Springdale community, live here, work here, shop here and serve here so when I am recruiting the best doctors I can speak from the heart about why this is such a great place to be,” Stewart said.

He is actively recruiting and interviewing doctors with plans to hire between 12 and 15 this year.

Stewart modestly said he was brought to Springdale in part to get the emergency room expansion completed.

Two weeks ago the Springdale City Council approved the last rezoning hurdle on the three-acre plot that will allow for a new hospital entrance from Thompson Street and 200 new parking spaces.

The building expansion/renovation will also nearly double the number of emergency exam rooms adding about 30,000 square feet in order to provide faster service. The added space will allow for 10,000 additional patient visits a year, according to Driscoll.

Additional space will include a trauma room, two major exam rooms and a secure exam room in addition to a new public waiting area and admitting services in the emergency department. A new public waiting room and lobby area will also be built at the hospital’s new main entrance.

Stewart said his primary goal for this year is to get the long-awaited hospital expansion under way. He’s already plugged into the St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Fayetteville, and hopes to work with the Springdale Chamber of Commerce to help grow the local business community in the coming years.

“As I get more bandwidth, I can see myself helping with community diversity issues and also welcoming opportunities to mentor, speak or lecture on effective leadership,” Stewart said.