The new president and CEO of St. Vincent Health System promised last week that extending the “healing ministry of our Lord” will be one of his main priorities.
Peter Banko, 40, took over the health system based in Little Rock in March after working for the past four years at Christus Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The lifelong Catholic attended Catholic schools in New Jersey and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in business administration in 1990. Two years later he earned a master’s degree in health administration from Cornell University, the only non-Catholic school he attended.
During a missioning service June 7 in the St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center chapel in Little Rock, Banko was formally installed as president and CEO, given a framed copy of the heath system’s mission statement and asked to commit to the health system’s “core values” — reverence, integrity, compassion and excellence. The medical staff, board members and other employees also were asked to pledge their support to Banko as he leads the hospital.
At Banko’s side were his wife, Elizabeth, their four children, ranging from 2 months to 12 years old, his mother, Kathleen Banko of Durham, N.C., and in-laws, Joseph and Renee Barbieri of Bluffton, S.C.
Participating in the service were Peter J. Noonan, vice president of mission integration for the health system; Sisters Emily Nabholz and Judy Raley, board members; and Gary Campbell, senior vice president of Catholic Health Initiatives, which sponsors the health system.
Banko was tearful at the end of the service when employee Peggy Loyd sang “Here Comes the Irish” to recall his love of all things Notre Dame.
Addressing an overflow crowd in the chapel, Banko said for him “the most daunting part” of the mission statement is “nurturing the healing mission of Jesus Christ.”
“It’s not all about me,” he said. “It’s all about all 3,000 of us working together.”
Since his arrival in Arkansas, Banko has read about the history of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Ky., who founded the hospital in 1888. Today there is only one sister assigned to the hospital, which has been a cause for concern for some Catholics who were used to seeing the sisters walk the halls.
“I really view it as my role to continue the role of the sisters,” said Banko, who attends Christ the King Church in Little Rock.
He said he will ensure employees remember the “gratitude and thanks we owe the sisters.”
Banko said he has made a commitment to serving in Catholic hospitals. His health care ministry started when he was a volunteer in high school in New Brunswick, N.J. He later worked in for-profit health care. He said “there is a difference” between Catholic hospitals and other hospitals.
Among Banko’s major duties is overseeing the construction of a $47 million expansion at the health system’s main hospital. Construction began in March and will finish in 2009.
Also, Banko said, “I would love to see more support of St. Vincent by Catholics.”
He said this includes Catholics coming to the hospital for health care but also serving as volunteers and on the foundation board and board of directors.
Above all, Banko said he wants to reinforce the values the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth embraced.
“It’s going back to our traditions,” he said. “The patients come first. The sisters had it all figured out when they started 119 years ago.”
