As HealthONE’s North Suburban Medical Center’s new president and CEO, Ryan Thornton vows to keep the hospital’s status as the most reliable healthcare resource for its diverse community of patients.
“I think here in Thornton we have multiple and different social and economic backgrounds among the patients we serve,” Thornton said this week. “And we try to take great care of the communities surrounding the hospital.”
That includes hosting a mobile food bank for residents once a month.
“Some don’t have the resources to go elsewhere for help,” Thornton added. “Some don’t have access to primary care, and we try to utilize our emergency room as part of that solution.”
The goal, Thornton said, is to get people safely back home as quickly as possible. “We know our patients want to get back to their loving homes,” Thornton said. “We just want to make sure our community’s needs are met in any way we can.”
Moving from HealthONE
Thornton, 50, joins the hospital, the only Level II Trauma center in Adams County from HCA Healthcare’s Continental Division. At HealthONE, he served as chief operating executive for the last three years, according to a HealthONE news release.
As the chief nursing executive at HealthONE, his leadership was pivotal in delivering award-winning quality. During his tenure HealthONE was named the number two large health system in the nation by PINC AI™. Thornton helped expand academic partnerships to further enhance a new graduate pipeline for registered nurses and lead an effort to create virtual technologies to enhance the delivery of patient care at the bedside, according to the news release.
Thornton worked with HealthONE for ten years in several of the health systems’ hospitals, including as the chief nursing officer at Swedish Medical Cente and associate chief nursing officer at Rose Medical Center. He joined HealthONE after serving eight years in the United States Air Force as both an enlisted member and an officer. Thornton separated from the service as a Captain, earning several awards and honors, the news release states.
Thornton also worked as an EMT in Greeley while studying at the University of Northern Colorado.
“That experience, along with others in health care, has helped me to meet our hospital’s mission of serving everyone we can in our community,” Thornton said.
Thornton earned a Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Master of Arts in Physical Education all from UNC. He also completed his Master of Business Administration at the University of Colorado in 2020.
“This call to serve our community is something that has always driven our family,” Thornton said. “I am proud of all the work our family is doing to help others.”