K.C. DeBoer, president & CEO at Jamestown Regional Medical Center, says that it’s with very mixed feelings that he leaves JRMC for a new opportunity.
DeBoer joined JRMC in 2014.
Since then, both Modern Healthcare and Becker’s Healthcare Review have named JRMC a Best Place to Work in healthcare. Under DeBoer’s leadership, JRMC also expanded the specialties it offers. JRMC added new specialists in podiatry, urology, gynecology & obstetrics, as well as ear, nose & throat in 2015-2017. Those specialists help people receive high-quality care close to home. The hospital is also working to break ground on the JRMC Cancer Center – the only one of its kind for 100 miles.
“K.C. is competent, organized, empathetic, caring, committed, innovative and approachable,” said Joanne Ottmar, JRMC Operations Board chairperson. “K.C. led our organization through difficult times in healthcare. We are very sorry to lose him; however, we’re grateful for his service and wish him and his family all the best in this next endeavor. ”
DeBoer begins his role as CEO for Prairie Lakes Healthcare System in Watertown, S.D., in August.
“This is the right choice for me professionally and personally. Living in Watertown brings me closer to both my family and my wife’s family in South Dakota while joining the team at another excellent independent hospital,” DeBoer said. “JRMC is an amazing place with a culture that will carry on, making it the best rural hospital in the country. We will miss Jamestown and I will miss the wonderful staff, physicians and board members I have been privileged to work with at JRMC.”
DeBoer said he will work with the board to ensure a smooth transition.
The board has initiated a national search to find a replacement, Ottmar said. In the meantime, it will soon name an interim CEO to lead the organization until a new CEO is in place.