West Jefferson Names Barbara Reece ‐ Chief Nursing Officer

West Jefferson Medical Center (WJMC) announces Barbara J. Reece, MS, RN, NEA‐BC has been appointed Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) for the medical center.  Reece, a native of Houston, comes to West Jefferson with thirty years of nursing leadership experience.

Reece most recently served as the Chief Nursing Officer/Associate Administrator for Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston from 2001 to 2015. In her role, Reece ensured alignment with nursing standards of practice, legal, regulatory and accreditation standards. Under her tenure, the hospital received the Pathway to Excellence designation and the facility exceeded HCAHPS patient satisfaction scores for several indicators.  

“We are pleased to welcome Barbara Reece to our hospital family and community,” said Nancy R. Cassagne, CEO of West Jefferson. “Barbara will join us on March 1, 2016 as a member of our executive staff. In her prior roles, she saw patient satisfaction scores rise. She is anxious to continue the success we have here at West Jefferson Medical Center with patient satisfaction scores being some of the highest in this region.”  

West Jefferson recently was the only hospital in our community to be rated 4‐stars in its most recent HCAHPS scores. These scores reported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) come from patient feedback on formal surveys conducted by an outside source.  

Reece received her Masters of Science degree in Nursing from Texas Women’s University, a nursing fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania through the Johnson & Johnson Wharton Fellows Management Program for Nurse Executives, and she will complete her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in May.

Reece’s primary role at West Jefferson will consist of providing strategic and operational leadership to the nursing department through evaluating, planning, coordinating and managing short and long term implementation of clinical activities, while maintaining cost‐effective quality care and patient satisfaction.

Reece and her husband look forward to living in our West Bank community and becoming part of the WJMC family.