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When opportunity knocks, say “Yes!”
HCHC CEO Teresa Colgan shares how she created a successful career over 39 years with the same organization
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
MT. PLEASANT — Teresa Colgan, Henry County Health Center CEO and Great River Health Chief Integration Officer, attributes her long, successful career to always saying yes.
“I feel like I've been very blessed because I didn't really aspire to have this job,” Colgan said. “But throughout my career, when opportunities knocked, I always said yes, I would try it. And I feel like that just helped me build my skills that helped me get my next job.”
This “say yes” philosophy was instilled in Colgan from a young age. She grew up in a large family with 10 siblings and spent much of her youth in 4-H.
“You know, 4-H teaches youth about leadership skills, and I learned if you're going to learn stuff, you have to say yes and have to try new things,” Colgan said.
Colgan’s career began with a simple desire to care for people. When she was in junior high school her brother was in a serious car accident and spent months in the hospital and rehab. During that time, Colgan saw the way staff cared for her brother and her interest in nursing began.
She began her career with the very same organization she works for today, Burlington Medical Center, which is now known as Great River Health. She started as a staff nurse in 1985 on a medical surgical floor. After receiving some special education, she moved into a position which focused on working with patients with ostomies and incontinence.
“I think working for Great River is great because it is a big enough organization that there is growth potential,” Colgan explained.
Colgan has certainly taken that opportunity for growth and run with it. She attributes her cultivation of strong relationships, continued care for others, and consistently strong work ethic along with her willingness to say yes to her ability to moved up in positions throughout her organization.
Her first step toward leadership came as she moved into the role of Education Director. She followed this role with temporary assignments doing operations then quality work when the new hospital in West Burlington was constructed around 2000.
As Colgan accepted these opportunities in leadership, Great River Health continued to knock at Colgan’s door with more opportunities, to which she continued to answer, “Yes.” She stepped into the role of Quality Vice President for the organization followed by Vice President of Nursing in Burlington before making her way to Henry County Health Center as CEO in 2022.
There is not a black and white answer for what is next for Colgan, but even now, as the CEO of HCHC, she says she is gaining skills that will very likely help her in whatever the next chapter holds.
As CEO, Colgan says she has leaned into further cultivating relationships with those working at HCHC and leading those who care for others.
“We have a lot of really good employees, leaders and providers, physicians and nurse practitioners,” Colgan said. “And, you know, I in my job, I don't work with patients much, but their commitment to patient care and doing the right thing is really strong, and that is, that's pretty fun.”
In additions to her duties as CEO, Colgan also fills the role of Chief Integration Officer for Great River Health.
“So, when we have three campuses, you know, in Fort Madison, West Burlington and Henry County, part of my role is to figure out, how do we work together? What things need to be more systemized and that sort of thing,” Colgan explained.
Even in this position, Colgan finds that her initial desire to care for others, like those that cared for her brother, remains the priority. She can continue this passion by helping streamline patient care in her role as Chief Integration Officer.
“With my nursing background, I have always loved patient care, so although I'm not directly impacting patient care, the decisions I make as a leader impact patient care,” she said.
Outside of her plentiful work with HCHC and Great River Health, Colgan finds fulfillment shaping future female leaders like herself in the Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois as a board member. Like those 4-H leaders in her youth taught her to say yes to opportunity, she teaches them the same.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com
