Kimber Wraalstad:

Cook County North Shore Hospital and Care Center Administrator Kimber Wraalstad arrived here last August and hit the ground running. The transition to Cook County hasn’t been much of a culture shock, since she came from a community of about 1,500 residents in a county of about 10,000 people.

Hospital Administrator Kimber Wraalstad has over half a year under her belt at Cook County North Shore Hospital and Care Center. She hit the ground running after 16 years at Presentation Medical Center in Rolla, North Dakota, leaving her position as president/CEO to become part of another rural, far-north community. Rolla has about 1,500 residents and is in a county of about 10,000 people.

The interview

Wraalstad knew early on she wanted to have a career in the field of rural health. In her interview with the hospital board last July, she said, “I believe health care is a calling.” She believes everyone from direct patient care to administration is important. “From an administrative standpoint, we still have an opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.”

Hospital board member Howard Abrahamson asked Wraalstad why she wanted to come to Cook County, outlining the challenges: Last spring, the hospital had one month with only eight patients and one month with none. The Care Center has been losing about $1,000,000 a year. The hospital is 100 miles from the nearest city and has no surgical unit. Wraalstad said she was interested in helping them figure out how to make the facility work. “This is the environment I’m interested in,” she said. “That doesn’t make it easy. Maybe that’s what make it interesting.”

Board member Tom Spence told Wraalstad the board usually informs candidates how remote Cook County is and how long the winters are. But Rolla, in the northeast quadrant of North Dakota, is pretty remote and pretty cold in the wintertime, too. “I supposed to you we look like a metropolitan area,” he said.

“You do!” Wraalstad answered.

New people wonder where the Walmart is, Abrahamson said. “We have a mall, but it’s associated with our recycling center!”

Wraalstad said she was impressed with the restaurants, arts, and theater in Cook County.

During the interview, Wraalstad asked the board what its goals were. “Survival!” said Abrahamson. They are trying to provide quality care with as broad a base of services as possible, he said, and want to continue to provide long-term elder care.

What is Wraalstad’s management style? “I would definitely say it’s participatory,” she said, adding that she challenges employees to consider, “Why are we doing it that way? Could we do it better? How would we do that?”

This courage to make changes is allowing her to consider with the hospital board options that could be pursued in light of continuing red ink in the Care Center budget. At Presentation Medical Center, Wraalstad helped make a transition in which the nursing home was separated from the rest of the institution to become a cityowned facility.

What relationship did the board want with its administrator? Wraalstad asked. “Warm fuzzy!” said Abrahamson.

“Make it work!” said Spence.

Abrahamson and Spence said they wanted someone who would keep them informed but be able to handle the details. Spence said he wanted someone who could get along with employees but still be able to make tough administrative decisions.

Wraalstad was asked how she would deal with seeing employees in various places around the community, such as at the grocery store or in church. “I think it’s actually a benefit,” she answered. “You’re accessible then.”

What do you do for fun? Kay Olson asked. “I love to read,” Wraalstad said, “but I like to work.” She said she would sometimes be in her office until midnight. She appreciates the arts and enjoys community theater, she said.

When asked how long it would take her to move to Grand Marais, Wraalstad said she didn’t have a lot of personal belongings because her home had been destroyed by a tornado two years before.

Several months later

After having been in her position for almost half a year, Wraalstad sat down with the Cook County News-Herald and shared more of her perspectives.

“I’m a product of the Minnesota school system,” Wraalstad said. She was one of the Moorhead High School “Spuds.”

“If UMD plays UND [the University of North Dakota, her college alma mater], you know who I’m going to be rooting for!” Wraalstad said.

Wraalstad had numerous internships and professional experiences in the lower Midwest before landing in North Dakota. She was an EMT for a while, and she gained a lot from that experience. “You learn to value teamwork, and you learn to value life, because you see how fleeting it is. You see how fragile it is,” she said.

Wraalstad still thinks about the cases that didn’t turn out well. “When you close your eyes, those are the ones you remember.” She performed CPR on babies and took care of young children who had been in car accidents. She was involved in a case in which a baby drowned in a bathtub. The father did not know CPR and the family had no phone. “If you love somebody, you should take CPR,” she said. Some people cannot be saved, but some of them can.

When asked about how she was handling Cook County’s winter, Wraalstad said, “You realize I moved south coming here! …This has been nothing. I like this!” Last fall, which was “absolutely gorgeous,” she said, was like Minnesota saying, “Welcome back!”

Wraalstad appreciates the team feeling at North Shore Hospital and Care Center. That’s why she likes working in rural areas, she said: “Everybody’s an important piece of the team.” Regarding the facility’s administrative partnership with St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, she said she likes its “How can I help?” attitude, much different from a “Let me tell you how to do it” approach.

When asked what trends she sees in the field of health care, Wraalstad said she sees a continued focus on measurable outcomes, quality of care, and safety. Frustrating for her is when policy makers in metropolitan areas call for changes in protocol that are unworkable in a rural setting.

How does Wraalstad view rural health care? “You see very first-hand the opportunities to make a difference,” she said. “…People really try to work together. …We really care about the patients.” Knowing patients “is one of the hardest things, and it’s one of the most rewarding,” she said. You see providers cry when someone dies here. That doesn’t happen everywhere, she said.

How does she view small towns? “People are ‘spit and spat,’” she said, “but when the chips are down, you find people really care.”

Wraalstad hopes to become well integrated into the community. “AmIaworkaholic?”she said. “Yah, probably!”

Wraalstad is not married, has no kids, and has two younger brothers in Denver and Idaho. She has been a member of the Eastern Star in Moorhead for 30 years. She apologized for one thing: “I didn’t add to the ethnic mix here at all. Sorry! I’m Norwegian.”

Wraalstad intends to support the local arts scene. “You always have to have somebody in the audience,” she said. That’s what I can do!”

Wraalstad has a nursing home administrator license and is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with emphases on finance and human resources from the University of North Dakota-Grand Forks and a master of health administration degree from St. Louis University in Missouri.