Trisha Montague was named chief administrator of Arkansas Children’s Northwest hospital in Springdale in October 2015. The hospital is set to open for business in 2018.
As chief administrator, Montague is responsible for overseeing the hospital’s leadership and its strategic plan for pediatric health care.
Montague began her career as a nurse and earned a master’s degree in nursing administration from the University of Colorado in Denver. She worked in a leadership position at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock from 1997 to 2001.
Trish Montague’s return to Arkansas reunited her with ACH President and CEO Marcy Doderer, under whom Montague served as chief nursing officer at Children’s Hospital in San Antonio.
How does Arkansas Children’s Northwest help fill a need in statewide pediatric care?
Far too many children in Arkansas lack immediate access to expert pediatric care. In a region where the pediatric population is growing twice as quickly as the rest of the state, it makes sense to offer expanded services. When ACNW opens in January 2018, it will have the region’s first and only emergency department expressly for children. That in itself will transform care in this region.
ACNW will also increase access to pediatric subspecialists who have been in short supply — including specialists in pediatric surgery, ENT, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, emergency medicine and anesthesiology — to live and work in this community.
What patient load does the hospital anticipate?
We anticipate a busy emergency department and have designed our ED to grow with this community. We expect to have between 10 and 20 children staying overnight in the hospital on any given day, and we anticipate growing into a busy outpatient and inpatient surgical service for children.
It’s important to note that, initially, critically injured or ill patients will be transported to Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where they can receive the lifesaving care they need.
What about the medical field attracted you? Do you miss hands-on nursing?
As clichéd as it may sound, I started talking about being a nurse when I was about 5 years old, and that never changed for me. As a child, I loved being outdoors, and I would bring home whatever creature I could find to care for. I was always drawn to care for others and still am.
I have been in leadership and administration for quite a long time now, but yes, I miss hands-on nursing every day. As a practicing nurse, I considered it a covenant to be present in the lives of children and families during their most vulnerable and frightening life experiences.
What are you doing to attract nurses and doctors to work at the hospital? Are you finding a shortage of health care workers?
Nationally, there is a shortage of health care workers, particularly in certain areas. There’s no question that recruitment is a big challenge that requires significant resources and commitment, but we are making really good progress. However, we have found if we can get people to visit the area and see what we are doing, northwest Arkansas essentially sells itself. We also emphasize the opportunity to be part of something transformative — for the children of Arkansas and for every team member.
What attracted you to the challenge of running Arkansas Children’s Northwest?
To be a part of bringing care close to home for patients and families that have often had to travel 200 miles for that care is meaningful to me in a way that cannot be measured. I worked with Marcy Doderer in San Antonio and knew her to be a visionary leader and a person who could absolutely lead Arkansas Children’s to fundamentally transform pediatric health care delivery in Arkansas. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
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