Oct 11, 2016 4 min read

As executive vice president/COO of Washington Health System, Brook Ward oversees all operations, including patient care services, ancillary services, facility maintenance, facility planning, information systems, human resources and regulatory affairs, as well as the hospital’s educational programs, service excellence initiatives and the Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center. He came to the Washington Health System from his most recent position as vice president, clinical and ambulatory services, at the Bronson Healthcare Group (Bronson Methodist Hospital), in Kalamazoo, Mich. He began his healthcare career as a radiologic technologist, and then became a business analyst, diagnostic manager, director of radiology and executive director of clinical and ambulatory services.

Ward has extensive experience with improving quality of care, process and operations improvement, physician relations, patient satisfaction/service excellence and organizational growth. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a Fallow of The Advisory Board Company. In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Ward was an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige Award Program in the National Institute of Standards and Technology within the Department of Commerce. In 2014 and 2015, he became a senior examiner and team lead for the Malcolm Baldrige Award Program.

In your free time, you like to take photographs. How did this become your favorite past time?

My father and uncle were professional photographers. So, I spent lots of time assisting them and completing photography assignments for them growing up all the way through college. There was a time after college that I didn’t want to take another photo at all, since I did so much of it early in my life. But about 10 years ago, I got the bug again and haven’t stopped since. The difference now is that I focus on the type of photography I like, which includes landscapes, travel, cityscapes, architecture, urban exploration and sports photography.

What is your preferred activity to do in Washington County throughout the fall season?

That’s an easy question – I enjoy searching out great locations to capture fall color photographs.

You have traveled to numerous places, state side and abroad. Where would you like to travel again, or go to next?

I love traveling to experience new cultures, meet different people, live new activities, see the world and capture as much of it as possible with my camera. So the places I’d like to visit next is a long list – but at the top of that list is South Africa, which I hope to visit in 2017. The place I’d like to return to is Iceland. Iceland was an amazing location for a number of reasons.

Would you share why you moved here?

In 2010, the Washington Health System was searching for a new executive vice-president/COO. I was working as an executive at Bronson Healthcare Group in Kalamazoo, Mich. I knew that I wanted to be a chief operating officer and I wouldn’t be able to get that at Bronson for at least 10 years, because their current COO wasn’t close to retirement. I had a choice between waiting at Bronson for my chance or leaving to pursue my goals somewhere else. So my wife and I started looking for an opportunity that fit my career goals while at the same time worked for our family. We found the WHS and the rest is history.

As Michigan is your home town and you moved here six years ago, what do you most enjoy about Washington County?

I like that Washington County has a nice, small community feel to it, while at the same time having many conveniences close to home. I also enjoy the fact when you want to experience the city, you can quickly get into Pittsburgh.