Craig Kantos Adjusting to Role at Wild Rose Hospital
After a long career in healthcare, Craig Kantos is used to change. Kantos, who has been CEO of ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca for more than 17 years, recently added the role of CEO of Wild Rose Community Memorial Hospital to his plate. The change, which also involved moving former Wild Rose CEO Dawn Shuman to director of nursing and patient care of both hospitals, will help ThedaCare gain system efficiencies while continuing to improve patient care, he said.
“We can learn from each other in order to serve patients the very best way possible,” Kantos said. “We will continue to enhance the quality of care at both sites.”
A native of International Falls, Minn., Kantos has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in healthcare administration. Before Kantos moved back to Wisconsin, he held healthcare administration roles in in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Maine.
Since arriving in Waupaca, Kantos has dealt with multiple changes and challenges. He helped the hospital – then known as Riverside Medical Center – achieve its critical access hospital designation – building projects and then 10 years ago helped RMC through its affiliation with ThedaCare.
“When we jointly built the addition including the clinic, new efficiencies were created,” he said. “For example, one registration area, one laboratory draw, one imaging department and when we invest in new technology we can purchase just one piece of equipment that serves both the hospital and clinic.”
About 18 months ago, Kantos led the hospital through a name and brand change going from RMC to ThedaCare Medical Center-Waupaca. “The only constant in healthcare is change,” he said.
“Technology is constantly improving and it’s important to keep facilities up-to-date,” Kantos said. “We’ve brought in-house several technology-related services that previously were done by outside contractors,” he said. “We are reviewing options so we can stay the most up-to-date for our area.” Active in the Waupaca community, Kantos is looking forward to participating in and getting to know the Wild Rose team members and the community better.
For more than 100 years, ThedaCare™ has been committed to finding a better way to deliver serious and complex healthcare to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The organization serves over 200,000 patients annually and employs more than 7,000 healthcare professionals throughout the region. ThedaCare has seven hospitals located in Appleton, Neenah, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano, New London and Wild Rose as well as 34 clinics in nine counties. ThedaCare is the first in Wisconsin to be a Mayo Clinic Care Network Member, giving our specialists the ability to consult with Mayo Clinic experts on a patient’s care. ThedaCare is a non-profit healthcare organization with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, stroke and cardiac programs as well as a foundation dedicated to community service. ThedaCare Regional Cancer Center in Appleton opened in February. For more information, visit www.thedacare.org or follow ThedaCare on Facebook and Twitter.
