Gilroy
– In a move that shocked his closest associates, Ted Fox, the
Hollister man who merged two financially troubled medical centers
into the Saint Louise Regional Hospital, has resigned after seven
years as the institution’s top officer.
Gilroy – In a move that shocked his closest associates, Ted Fox, the Hollister man who merged two financially troubled medical centers into the Saint Louise Regional Hospital, has resigned after seven years as the institution’s top officer.
The chief executive officer and president of the medical facility serving South County declined an interview request and offered scant explanation in an announcement issued Tuesday by the Daughters of Charity Health System, a Los Altos Hills-based nonprofit group that operates Saint Louise and five other facilities in the state.
“While I will always be proud of my association with the Daughters of Charity, and thoroughly embrace their mission of service to the poor and under-served, I have reached a personal decision to start a new chapter in my career as I pursue other opportunities,” Fox said in a written statement.
Reached at his Hollister home Tuesday afternoon, Fox declined to comment, saying that he agreed to allow the hospital officials to speak on his behalf.
The announcement surprised members of the hospital’s board of directors and others Fox has worked closely with in recent years.
“I had absolutely no idea,” said Bill Reimal, a local commercial real-estate broker and member of the hospital’s governing board since 2005. Reimal said he learned of the announcement in an e-mail Monday afternoon. He lauded Fox, who will continue serving as the hospital’s chief executive through Aug. 31, for orchestrating the merger of De Paul Health Center in Morgan Hill and Saint Louise Hospital, off No Name Uno in Gilroy.
“Both were just bathing in red ink,” Reimal said. “The Daughters of Charity bought both about seven or eight years ago. He then inherited staff of Saint Louise and Morgan Hill. He had to put those two together and it was not easy. It’s part of the old Gilroy-Morgan Hill competition. Putting those staffs together took a lot of skill. You can’t have staffs fighting and serving patients.”
George Chiala, another board member and president of the hospital’s foundation, also heard about Fox’s departure through an e-mail.
“I was totally surprised,” he said. “It was like I’ve lost a good friend.”
Chiala said he did not know where Fox would go next, but he said the outgoing CEO “runs a good hospital” and is “dedicated to excellence.”
In addition to establishing peace between the staffs and hiring new physicians and nurses, Fox helped stop the financial bloodletting at Saint Louise Regional Hospital.
In 2001, Saint Louise lost more than $500,000, according to Elizabeth Nikels, a spokeswoman with the Daughters of Charity.
“Since that time, the hospital has not suffered any financial loss,” she said.
Between July 2000 and this year, she added, Fox helped grow the hospital’s “cash on hand” for operating and capital budgets from $186,000 to more than $6 million.
Fox’s involvement extended beyond the halls of Saint Louise and into the Gilroy and Morgan Hill communities, where he actively participated in local business and civic groups such as the Rotary Club.
His crowning achievement as the 2006 president of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce involved forging a regional tourism partnership between Morgan Hill and Gilroy, according Dan Ehrler, head of the Morgan Hill business association.
“He was one that had humor and genuine personal professional commitment to the betterment of Morgan Hill and our regional community,” said Ehrler, also surprised by the sudden announcement.
The hospital’s interim head will be Steve Balalian, a consultant at Saint Louise with 23 years experience in health-care management, including stints as CEO of two hospitals in Southern California.
The Dispatch could not get additional information by press time on how long the search process will last for a permanent replacement.
Reimal predicted that process will be driven by top officials at the Daughters of Charity, in consultation with officials and board members at Saint Louise hospital.
