Byron Petersen honored for distinguished service

Byron Petersen  of Avera St. Luke’s has been honored with the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organization’s “Distinguished Service Award,” receiving the honor at the annual SDAHO convention held in Rapid City.

Over the past 33 years, Petersen has served in various roles at Avera St. Luke’s including assistant and interim administrator, vice president of administration, vice president of professional services, and vice president of network operations. He is now moving toward retirement. Petersen has also been extremely visible and active in Aberdeen, as well as throughout the state, serving on numerous boards and committees.

Under Petersen’s leadership, many new programs and services were initiated at Avera St. Luke’s. One of his greatest strengths is to see a need, envision a solution, and empower staff to assist in developing the new program or service. He has been instrumental in initiating:

• Level II Nursery
• In-house Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) services
• Cardiac Rehab program
• Cancer Care services
• Inpatient  Rehabilitation Center
• Pediatric therapies (occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy)
• Cardiac Cath Lab

“His empowering leadership style quietly demands the best from people, all the while pushing them beyond what even they thought they were capable of,” said Ron L. Jacobson, president and CEO of Avera St. Luke’s. “More than one department director has commented that they owe their entire career to Byron… He believed in them, gave them a chance, and mentored them to success.”

Petersen has not only had an impact within the walls of Avera St. Luke’s, but throughout northeast South Dakota. Through Avera St. Luke’s Partner Program, he worked with many hospital administrators to ensure they had the support needed to continually offer quality health care to rural communities in this region. Some of those key initiatives include:

• SEED Program, collaborating with Presentation  College to offer a nursing degree via distance education (videoconferencing), with the target students being “community-bound” individuals in outlying communities.  This was accomplished with the help of a federal $2.7 million grant. More than 160 students successfully graduated and passed board exams through SEED. This program was awarded the Outstanding Rural Health Program by the National Rural Health Association in 2002.
• Health  Academy , designed to introduce high school students to heath careers in an attempt to combat the impending workforce shortage in health care. This was done in collaboration with Presentation College and partner hospitals, and has been held each June for the past six years.
• Outreach endoscopy joint venture, facilitating formation of a joint venture partnership of four area hospitals to share equipment and offer scope procedures locally.
• Increasing outreach communities’ local access to services by assisting with contracts for dietary consults, physical and occupational therapy, mobile imaging and other professional services.