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- Category: Past Issues
PUTNAM — Donald St. Onge, RN, MS, CMPE, will join Day Kimball Healthcare as senior vice president, chief nursing officer and chief operating officer, starting Oct. 8. In this newly created position, patient services and other selected departments including homecare, hospice and palliative care, diagnostic imaging, laboratory, facilities, and information technology will report directly to St. Onge.
Robert E. Smanik, president and CEO of Day Kimball Healthcare, said, “Day Kimball Healthcare has gone through significant change over the past few years with the addition of 18 physician practices, building new and renovating many of our existing facilities, and now embarking on a dramatic expansion of Day Kimball Hospital’s emergency department, all of which are in line with our transformation to an integrated care, patient-centered medical home service model,” said Smanik. “These operational changes coupled within the context of the healthcare industry’s volatile environment made it apparent that we needed to expand our senior management team to include a senior healthcare professional to provide operational oversight in order to direct our focus appropriately. Don brings the perfect balance of clinical and management skills – as well as intimate knowledge of the DKH system – to this important position.”
For the past eight years, St. Onge has been practice manager of The Center for Bone & Joint Care orthopedic services in Putnam. Previous to joining the orthopedic practice, he was a member of the Day Kimball family as executive director of Day Kimball HomeCare, Hospice & Palliative Care of Northeastern Connecticut as well as several of Day Kimball programs, including inpatient and outpatient rehabilitative services. Earlier in his career, he was a nurse manager in Day Kimball Hospital’s surgical nursing department.
St. Onge is a former Mayor of Putnam, serving from 1989-1991; past faculty member at UConn, School of Nursing; and assistant vice president, Medical/Surgical, Critical Care & Perioperative Services at Leominster Hospital.
St. Onge graduated from UConn with an MS in Nursing Administration; Salve Regina University with a BS in Nursing and from Newport Hospital School of Nursing. He is a member of American Association of Orthopedic Executives, Connecticut Medical Group Management Association, and Connecticut Association of Orthopedic Practice Managers.
Active in the community, St. Onge is currently chairman of the board for the Town of Putnam’s Economic Development Commission, and on the board of directors for the Northeastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce and Matulaitis Nursing Home, and is emeritus board member of the Quinebaug Valley Community College Foundation. He was also an active leader in DKH’s “Care in a Heartbeat” capital campaign. St. Onge and his wife, Denise, are long-time residents of Putnam.
“I am honored to work with the Board of Directors and Bob to move forward the strategic vision of Day Kimball Healthcare and am especially excited to re-join the team that includes many of the staff members I worked with previously,” said St. Onge.