McDowell Hospital will welcome a new leader on March 23. Carol C. Wolfenbarger, RN, BSN, MSN, FACHE, will join the hospital as President, stepping into the role following the departure of Lynn Boggs in December.
Wolfenbarger is board certified in Healthcare Management and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE). For more than three decades she has served hospitals and health systems in east Tennessee, most recently as Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nursing Executive at Jefferson Memorial Hospital in Jefferson City, Tenn. In that role her accomplishments included achieving Top 100 Hospitals designation three years in a row, and achieving Top Performer status from The Joint Commission for two consecutive years. She previously held leadership positions at Morristown Hamblen Healthcare System in Morristown, Tenn., and Cherokee Health Systems in Talbott, Tenn. Wolfenbarger also served for several years as instructor/adjunct faculty for first- and second-year RN Associate Degree students at Walters State Community College in Morristown, Tenn.
She will report to Kathy Guyette, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Mission Health’s Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services and President, Regional Member Hospitals. Until Wolfenbarger’s arrival, Bob Bednarek, Mission’s VP of Rural Health Planning and Development, will continue as interim President at McDowell Hospital.
“We are so pleased to welcome Carol Wolfenbarger to our community and to the Mission Health family,” said Guyette. “Her extensive experience in a small community hospital environment, just over the mountain from us in Tennessee, makes her a natural fit for McDowell Hospital, and we are confident of a bright future under her leadership.”
Wolfenbarger holds both Bachelors and Masters of Science degrees in nursing from the University of Tennessee.