Serving Whitman County since 1877
With more than 42 years in the healthcare field under his belt along with two retirements, Gary Peck feels lucky to be in Colfax.
Peck, 67, is the Interim CEO for Whitman Hospital & Medical Center in Colfax. He came here after retiring from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chewelah. He retired once in 2011, but then was asked to go to the Ritzville hospital to do consulting work and then retired again in 2012. He started work here in April.
“I enjoy rural hospitals very much,” he said. He is doing regular CEO duties until a permanent replacement is named for CEO Debbie Glass who has retired.
Glass came to Colfax in December of 2011 to serve as CEO after serving as chief operations officer at Providence Newberg Medical Center.
Peck said he now lives here during the week, then goes home to Chewelah on the weekends.
“It’s a wonderful community and I feel blessed to be here,” Peck said. “The physicians are outstanding and this is an incredible hospital setting. We have great traditions and a great staff. The care given here is one of the highest in the country.”
Peck noted the hospital has been named one of the Top 20 Critical Access Hospitals by the National Rural Health Association. The hospital also was named a Best Practice Hospital for Patient Satisfaction.
Peck began in healthcare at Deaconess Hospital in 1970 and stayed there for 21 years. As he worked at Deaconess, he earned his bachelor’s and then a master’s degree in healthcare administration. After a short stint at a mortgage bank, he moved back to his hometown of Chewelah in 1993 and retired for the first time in 2011. Peck said he stays with healthcare administration because he likes the work.
“I enjoy the people,” he said. “The combination of rural doctors and his or her many hats they wear. The urban market is more specific.”
“The challenge is making things work in a setting where not as many resources are available as in an urban setting,” he said.
“I’ve not been in a setting as modern as Whitman Hospital,” Peck said.
“This community is very lucky to have the physicians, campus and the technology that they do.”
Peck’s duties at the hospital will probably end some time this fall. He said there will be a week or two of transition to familiarize the new CEO with operations and then Peck will retire – again to Chewelah.
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