Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital will have a new Chief Executive Officer on board within six or seven months, but John Schwartz admits he won’t mind if it takes the full amount of time.

Schwartz serves as interim chief executive of the hospital, following the departure of former CEO James Arp, who held the chief executive position for two years. Arp has taken a position at Providence Portland Medical Center.

“This is a wonderful area and I am always finding something new to discover,” said Schwartz, who comes to Hood River after serving interim positions at Providence hospitals in Medford and in Missoula, Mont. He brings more than 30 years of health care administration experience, nearly all of it in faith-based health systems.

Hood River County residents will start to see large physical changes at the Heights hospital campus before Schwartz’s interim tenure is over: the $40 million expansion and improvement project is scheduled to start by September, he said. A new wing will be added on the east side of the hospital, and departments and hospital functions including surgery and diagnostics will be integrated and expanded.

Interviewed last week in the hospital café, Schwartz said his involvement with the project will be to work closely with the contractors and the project manager to ensure that hospital operations continue efficiently, but otherwise let them proceed.

“There are so many people on a team that make a project happen,” he said.

Overall, Schwartz’s impressions in his month in Hood River are that “people are very friendly, and very committed.”

Before working with Providence facilities, Schwartz served 13 years as president of Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago, a 263-bed acute care hospital with 1,000 employees. Schwartz’s previous positions include executive vice president of Aurora Health Care, president and chief executive officer of Good Samaritan Medical Center and vice president of professional services at St. Luke’s Medical Center, all in Milwaukee, Wisc., Schwartz said in a Providence press release.

“I stopped full-time work at the end of 2004, to take a break after decades of intense management responsibilities,” Schwartz said. “I rested, reconnected with family and friends and traveled for several months, all the time believing if I was meant to work at a particular job, the work would find me. I put God in charge,” he said.

“When Russ Danielson (Providence’s Oregon Region chief executive) first called and asked me to serve as interim chief executive at Providence Medford, I had never considered such a role,” he continued, “but I have found it works well with my skills and my love of travel and people. That really is providence!”

Schwartz began work at Providence Hood River in mid-April and says he is impressed with the employees, physicians, volunteers and the community. He spent his first weekend in town enjoying Blossom Festival events and meeting people wherever he went.

“My job in Hood River is to provide support to the administrative team and our employees, who all are working at maximum capacity, especially preparing for the upcoming hospital expansion. I also look forward to getting to know the community. In just a couple of weeks I already feel very welcome.”

Schwartz grew up in a small town, Lester Prairie, Minn., about 50 miles west of Minneapolis. He says life there was a lot like the fabled “Lake Wobegon.” He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and a master’s degree in hospital administration from the University of Minnesota.

A national search for a permanent Hood River chief executive is underway, according to Russ Danielson.

“With John’s excellence and dedication to Providence, I know that we have an outstanding leader during this interim time as we search for just the right leader for our ministry.”