Normanite In The Spotlight: Richie Splitt

Even before Richie Splitt began working for the Norman Regional Health System, he knew it and its people were special. Although Splitt, who is going into his sixth year as president and chief executive officer for Norman Regional, lived in southwest Oklahoma City when he was hired, his family had multiple ties to Norman.

Thus, he already had a connection to the community and an interest in the development of the health system, and “great admiration” for the work being done. When he arrived on the job, Splitt said he was grateful to discover it was the organization he thought he knew from the outside. The people are what makes Norman Regional remarkable, Splitt said, and that was especially on display during his second week on the job.

Splitt started as the Norman Regional Health System’s chief administrative officer for the HealthPlex and Moore Medical Center on May 13, 2013. A week later, a tornado destroyed the Moore Medical Center.

“It was the people who really made this place special. I saw that in the first week, and then the tornado hit. The character of those same people is what stood out to me, and I believe to the community, to the state, to the nation,” Splitt reflected. “Man, did our people shine. They stood in the gap between that hurt and the healing and really demonstrated they are here for one purpose, and that’s to care for our patients and to care for the community.”

Splitt is a lifelong Oklahoman, attending Moore Public Schools, the University of Oklahoma for both his undergraduate degree and a master’s degree and Oklahoma City University for his Master of Business Administration. He and his wife, Jill, were junior high sweethearts and have two daughters - Sicily, who is married to Kent Holmstrom, and Madison - and a 13-year-old son named Bradyon. Splitt is a Leadership Norman graduate and is currently the 2022 chairman of the board for the Norman Chamber of Commerce.

Splitt said Norman Regional is driven by its strategic plan, Inspire Health, to provide the best care for patients and being connected to the community is a top priority.

The system partners with many other local organizations to enhance services. There’s the school nursing program in Norman Public Schools, which places nurses in the schools to directly serve students and their families. Another school program is the telehealth platform, through which students in not only Norman but also Moore, Noble and soon Washington can connect with pediatricians in a virtual space.

Other community outreach efforts include the No Hunger Holidays Campaign where Norman Regional partners with Feed the Children to provide food, personal hygiene products and toys to 400 families within Norman, Moore and Noble Public Schools. The system also partners with United Way, conducting a Pacesetter campaign each year where employees give back to the community through donations, and operates a Food Pharmacy for its patients, just to name some of its efforts.

“This giving back connects with me personally because we can make a difference one patient at a time, one person at a time,” Splitt said. “That’s what our healers do. They connect in the hospitals and they connect in our communities in a much broader way.”

A recent partnership for NRHS is with The Well, Norman’s new wellness hub. The space houses Norman Regional’s Health@TheWell clinic, which offers chiropractic care and functional and integrative medicine services. The clinic provides direct patient care, and Splitt explained the space can also be used for educational purposes and fitness classes. An upcoming project that highlights the partnership between Norman Regional and the City of Norman is the Senior Wellness Center, a Norman Forward project that will be located on the site of NRHS’s future Porter Health Village.

Additionally, Norman Regional is involved with the Young Family Athletic Center, another Norman Forward project. The multisport facility will house basketball and volleyball quarters as well as an aquatics area. Splitt said Norman Regional aims to elevate the facility even further by operating a sports and human performance center that will have physicians and trainers who can support athletes at all levels of training.

“Anytime there’s health or wellness being discussed in our community, Norman Regional wants to be part of that conversation and part of the solution-finding to make those things happen,” Splitt explained.

The system has served Oklahoma since 1946, and Splitt said he’d like for the community to know it is built to last. NRHS has enjoyed success throughout the years, which has been accomplished through innovation and also the people who are part of the organization.

“We are trying to create a healthy community that allows us to continue to prosper overall,” Splitt shared. “We’re grateful and humbled to do what we do, and we want to do it to the best of our ability.”– BSM