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  • President Chris Roth and Chief Nursing Officer Cy Gearhard, with big thanks to St. Luke’s superstar nursing professionals!
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President Chris Roth and Chief Nursing Officer Cy Gearhard, with big thanks to St. Luke’s superstar nursing professionals!

By Chris Roth, News and Community
May 5, 2020

To all of St. Luke’s awesome and dedicated nursing professionals,

Your compassion, heroism, selflessness, thoughtfulness and skill have never shone more brightly than they have in recent weeks.

In the video that St. Luke’s Chief Nursing Officer Cy Gearhard has made, which can be found at the bottom of this page, she notes that last year, the World Health Organization declared this the International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife. Had we known …

Nurses the world over, including hundreds of St. Luke’s finest, have risen to challenges in these past few weeks that none of us could have imagined we might see in our lifetimes.    

As I think many of you know, my mother was a nurse. I’ve told the story of how, when she was in nursing school, I watched as she practiced giving injections on oranges in our kitchen. It made an impression on me, so much so that I followed her into health care. And I see the diligence and concern for great care in all of you that I first saw in her.

This week, as we mark National Nurses Week, and National Nurses Day tomorrow, in the middle of the biggest health threat most of us will ever face as people and as health-care professionals, I want you to know how significant your work is, how valuable you are to St. Luke’s and to your patients, and how grateful I am to each of you.

Caring people are the heart of St. Luke’s, and there is no better example of that than you. This St. Luke’s team is stronger because of all of you. And our patients, and our community, are all the better because of your immense contribution. Thank you.

About The Author

Chris Roth is president and CEO of St. Luke’s Health System, based in Boise, Idaho. Chris joined St. Luke’s in 2007, when the organization had been a health system for less than six months, and led much of the effort to establish the organization as one of the top health systems in the United States. He served St. Luke’s first as vice president and chief operating officer and then as chief executive officer of the Treasure Valley region. He subsequently was promoted to the position of senior vice president and chief operating officer for the health system before being selected in 2019 as president and CEO; he assumed these responsibilities in February of 2020. He holds a bachelor of science degree from Utah State University and a master’s degree in health-care administration from the University of Minnesota.