CHI Mercy Welcomes New Employees
Colleen Jones is CHI Mercy Hospital’s new Vice President of Clinical Services. She’s the one who coordinates direct patient care services like pharmacy, nursing, Emergency and lab, working in all facets of care to make sure everyone is doing their best work and patients are receiving the best care.
Jones grew up in Valley City, graduating from High School here before moving away from home. She most recently made her home Valley City for two years. In those years, she’s served as the Director of Nursing at the State Hospital in Jamestown, and she began her new position at CHI just last week.
She’s glad to be back where her family is, including her parents, her brothers and their families, and her son, and she’s excited to dive into her position and make progress toward her goal: making CHI Mercy a place an even better place to work.
“The nursing staff here is phenomenal,” Jones says. “I want to make this a place that attracts people who want to work at a place they love and in an environment they thrive in.”
Jones sees being a part of the community as a benefit to her and the hospital staff at CHI.
“It’s about education, too,” she says. “I want to be out in the community so they knowing that we’re here for them, that we’re providing good care right here at home. It’s huge to have one-onone care with someone you know.”
Steve Spickenreuther is another new face at CHI Mercy in Valley City. He’s recently taken over as Director of Mission and Foundation— two big hats to wear.
“For the mission piece, I make sure we are living out our catholic spirituality within our hospital system,” he says. “We make sure our leadership is living out their spirituality in everything they do on a day to day basis. That’s the biggest piece of the mission.”
The Director of Mission position was traditionally undertaken by the Sisters, but as their numbers decreased over the years, it was opened up to laypeople.
Spickenreuther is not new to CHI, its mission and services. He’s been with the organization for the past 15 years, first working IT at the Fargo office for about 8 years and then working from home within the national network.
He was born in Texas and spent most of his childhood years there while his father was in the Air Force. After he moved up to Grand Forks, where his grandmother lived at that time, he graduated high school at Central and immediately joined the Army. He spent 10 years on Active Duty and moved around during and after that time, spending time in Florida and Washington State. He moved back to North Dakota over a decade ago, and then he realized it was the place he wanted to stay.
“As an adult, North Dakota is so much different it is when you’re a child,” Spickenreuther says. “When you’re young, you can’t wait to get out of here. But when you’re an adult and you come back and meet the people and understand the lifestyle and what it has to offer, you want to stay.”
With a Master’s degree in Mission Integration for Healthcare Services from St. Thomas Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, he’s ready to take on both the Mission and Foundation roles at CHI.
“On the foundation side, I’m going out and working with our community and our sponsors, being able to host events that help raise funds,” Spickenreuther says. “I’ll be responsible for coming up with fundraising ideas and doing grant writing to ensure we’re able to operate.”
He’s excited to be
branching out in the CHI world, transitioning from the IT side of things into the world of mission and foundation.
“My goal is to reach out, to have that one on one experience, not only with the people in the hospital but with the community,” he says. “I want to let them know who we are and that we’re a part of Valley City. The hospital isn’t a separate entity sitting up here waiting for you to get sick. It’s day-today life. When people are here working, they’re here to support you. When they’re not here working, they’re walking among you—they’re your neighbors, your friends—that’s who we are, and that’s what we want to express to the community.”
Valley City welcomes both Jones and Spickenreuther to the community and the CHI team who provides excellent care.