“My talent is that I have a lot of experience and I enjoy problem solving and bringing together disparate teams and trying to engage them on common ground,” Tempke says. “I have to work within UNC Health, the UNC REX Healthcare leadership, the town of Holly Springs and the construction company to ensure that we’re building a quality hospital and delivering it as on time as possible within budget. The other piece is that it opens ready to take care of people with a plan to operate safely and efficiently.” Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Linda Butler has no doubt Tempke is the right man for the top job. “It has a lot to do with how he builds relationships,” says Butler, who has previously supervised Tempke. “He’ll spend a lot of time getting to know the leadership and citizens of Holly Springs. He’ll invest that time and work on integrating himself into that community and will know every inch of that facility. He’ll own it like it is his hospital, and I think the people of Holly Springs will be pleased with the UNC REX Holly Springs campus and will be pleased with Roy as the COO of that facility.” Although the facility is roughly 30 minutes from the UNC REX main campus in Raleigh, Butler thinks Tempke will be successful at replicating the hospital’s mission in Holly Springs. “We’re building a facility with a REX culture, but it’s not going to have all of the services as we have at REX,” she says. “You want to make sure you get it right, and I’m confident Roy can do that.” Tempke says the support he gets from his wife, Michele, a former elementary school teacher who’s now an assistant principal, and their sons, Ryan, who attends the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Nicholas, a high school student, is more important now than ever. “Family’s a huge part of my life,” he says. “I couldn’t do all of this without their grace and patience and support.” So what lies ahead? “I have an office on site now, which allows me to go to face-to-face meetings with residents, the construction team, the designers, the architect and the engineers. We’re giving tours as it’s beginning to take shape, and you can begin to envision yourself working there. It’s very exciting.” For more information about supporting the new Holly Springs Hospital, contact Jackie Pierce at jacqueline.pierce@unchealth.unc.edu.
Gary Park to Retire Gary Park has announced his retirement effective Feb. 28, 2021. Park is a former President and CEO of UNC REX Healthcare. Currently, Park serves as Chief Operating Officer of UNC Health, overseeing Triangle and statewide hospital and Gary Park ambulatory operations, including UNC REX and other affiliated hospitals in the UNC Health System. He has held his current post since the fall of 2019. Before becoming COO of UNC Health last fall, Park served as President of UNC Hospitals from 2004 to 2019. Under his leadership, UNC Hospitals built and opened the N.C. Cancer Hospital and the Hillsborough Campus, expanded mental health services in Raleigh with the Wakebrook campus, won countless awards and honors for excellence in clinical care and patient satisfaction, and achieved recognition as one of the best places to work in America. From 2001 until he left in 2004 to become President of UNC Hospitals, Park served as President and CEO of UNC REX Healthcare. He was instrumental in leading UNC REX through a pivotal time of transition as it joined the UNC Health System in the early 2000s. From October 1997 to December 2000, Park served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Moses Cone Health System. He also served as President of Wesley Long Community Hospital from November 1992 until September 1997, when Wesley Long merged with Moses Cone. Prior to his position at Wesley Long, Park was President of Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston, West Virginia, from 1986 to 1992. Park, who holds undergraduate and a graduate degrees from West Virginia University, spearheaded the growth and development of the UNC Health System into a renowned statewide network of hospitals and clinics. Please join us at the Rex Healthcare Foundation in thanking Park for his years of dedicated service and in wishing him well in retirement.
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