Heywood Healthcare CEO Win Brown fire. Trustees appoints co

Dec 31, 2023

There has been a change of leadership at Heywood Healthcare.

Win Brown has been separated from the regional healthcare system after serving as president and CEO for more than 10 years, according to an email sent to employees on Tuesday.

"Effective immediately, Rozanna Penney and Tom Sullivan will serve as co-CEOs of Heywood Healthcare, continuing our focus on financial and operational stability and the delivery of high-quality care and services to our community," read the email written by Robert Chauvin, chair of the Heywood Healthcare Board of Trustees.

Penney is the current Vice President of Patient Care Services, Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Director of Heywood Medical Group. Sullivan is the current Vice President of Financial Services.

Working in close collaboration, Penney would assume full operational leadership of Heywood Healthcare, while Sullivan would financial risk and lead in all fiscal matters, according to Chauvin.

"This is an untraditional model, but one that capitalizes on the internal strength of the leadership team and the work before us, focused on community healthcare accompanied by financial and operational excellence," Chauvin continued. "The Board is highly confident that this leadership structure, along with the help of our dedicated employees, will carry us through this challenging time."

More:Nurses call for return of 'essential services' at Heywood Hospital

Heywood Healthcare is an independent, community-owned healthcare system dedicated to providing quality services to residents across North Central Massachusetts.

It is comprised of Athol Hospital; Heywood Hospital, the Heywood Medical Group, and Heywood Rehabilitation Center in Gardner; West River Health Center in Orange; and Winchendon Health Center and Murdock School-based Health Center in Winchendon.

UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton:Heywood Hospital remains committed to maternity care

In April, Heywood Hospital announced it would close its pulmonary outpatient services. The hospital is continuing to perform sleep studies and pulmonary function testing. Dawn Casavant, the vice president of external affairs for the hospital, said at the time that the decision to close the outpatient clinic was a financial one. There were 1,700 patients in 2022.

"Pulmonary was not an area we can afford to continue providing service," she said in April. "Consolidation (of other services) is something we are looking at."

At the end of May Brown announced, Heywood Hospital was ready to support regional obstetric and maternity care to aid for women in North Central Massachusetts after UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital filed a 120-day notice of closure for its maternity ward including labor and delivery beds and well infant nursery beds with the Department of Public Health.

The hospital's new surgical pavilion is still under construction and the 22,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in April 2024. The facility will include six operating rooms, two minor procedure rooms, and a post-anesthesia care unit.

Construction milestone reached:New surgical pavilion expected to open by April 2024

This is a developing story and will be updated as we continue to report.