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King appointed as new UnityPoint adminstrator

UnityPoint Health-Marshalltown will get a new hospital administrator on Sunday.

Shari King, 50, of Cedar Rapids, regional director of operations for UnityPoint, accepted the job a couple weeks ago and is looking forward to her new position.

“I accepted because it is a great opportunity,” King said. “We had a wonderful 2019 in Marshalltown in patient experience and in financial stability. I know when we bought the facility three years ago, it was going to take three years to turn that financial corner and we did it in two and a half years.”

One thing King was wants to focus on when she starts is improving patient experience further. Based on surveys, the average patient experience in Marshalltown was negative in 2017. While there has been some improvement, she wants to continue.

Some of the questions asked of patients about their Marshalltown hospital experience is if registration was pleasant, communication on care was clear and, if they were in-patients, if the hospital food was enjoyable and the rooms were clean.

“Patients did not trust the facility or the services we provided,” King said. “I want them to please come and try us again. We would love to be their healthcare provider of choice. They do not have to go out of town for their care.”

In addition to improving patient experience, King wants to refocus the hospital on projects that might have gotten pushed aside due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic took all of our resources,” she said.

The biggest project is the planned, brand new, $38.4 million hospital to be built on the south side of town across the road from the Marshalltown Community College. When the plan was approved in December 2019, the timeline had the 65,000-square-foot hospital opening in 2022. King said the timeline has been pushed back four to six weeks.

“We are putting focus again on the design and the development of the facility,” she said. “It will be a highly-efficient hospital for staff and patients.”

The healthcare industry is a field King is well-versed in. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Central College in Pella in 1991 and a master’s in physical therapy from Emory University in Atlanta in 1995. That same year, she joined UnityPoint as a physical therapist. King has also served as vice president of operations, executive director of shared services and executive director of behavioral health and therapy services.

“There are a lot of medical practitioners in my family so I was exposed to it a lot growing up,” she said. “We would frequently talk about medical issues. I wanted to help people achieve a better way of life and function through physical therapy.”

When King’s promotion was announced, she was not alone. Jen Arneson of Marshalltown was also promoted to director of nursing at UnityPoint Health – Marshalltown. Arneson has worked at the hospital since 1996.

Jenni Friedly, the regional chief operating officer of UnityPoint Health – Waterloo is excited about the future of healthcare in Marshalltown.

“We’ve made tremendous strides since taking over a struggling hospital in 2017, and we’re proud of how we’ve positioned ourselves to provide quality health care in this community for the long-term,” Friedly said. “These two new leadership appointments will help guide and develop the healthcare transformational journey in the Marshalltown community.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.

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