Riverside Doctors’ Hospital Williamsburg has a new president, but Stacey Johnson is no stranger to the healthcare system.
Johnson started April 20 in the role after training her successor at Riverside Mental Health and Recovery Center, where Johnson served as president since 2020. She joined the Riverside team in 2018 as executive director of the center.
Johnson succeeds Adria Vanhoozier, who was promoted to vice president of system financial and operation integration with Riverside. As she gets used to her new job, Johnson is meeting with the hospital team and getting to know the staff and the needs of the greater Williamsburg community.
The two-story, 40-bed hospital opened in 2013 and, according to Riverside, cares for hundreds of patients a day, both in- and out-patient.. In its first 10 years, the hospital went through several expansions that included adding an MRI suite and an IV infusion center, among other services.
Over the years, the hospital has really focused on accessibility of services and the patient experience, which will be a continued emphasis in Riverside’s overall mission to provide world-class care, Johnson said.
“The leadership team here, they’re all amazing,” she said. “They’ve done tremendous work, particularly through some really hard times in the last five or so years when healthcare has gotten incredibly busy … I feel incredibly lucky to be walking into that.”
Johnson had planned for a role in acute care, starting in social work and earning a master’s degree in business administration. Her focus was mental and behavioral health until her move to president of Doctors’ Hospital.
“My dream, long-term, is that somebody takes care of their mental health as much as they do their physical health,” she said.
In joining Riverside, Johnson said she decided to work for a healthcare organization that had mental and behavioral health services in addition to acute care.
“(It was) always a long-term goal of mine to continue to expand my knowledge and skill base so that I can continue to help as many people as possible … and that’s what’s landed me here,” she said. “(It was) just something that was always innate in me to help individuals who are struggling to help themselves or have needs they can’t meet on their own.”
Among the projects the team at Riverside Mental Health and Recovery Center tackled under Johnson’s leadership included renovations, expanded care services and the opening of a psychiatric emergency department.
“With that, there were a lot of connections to acute care facilities,” Johnson said. “When this position opened up, I was ready for that. I (first) wanted to finish what we started there.”
Johnson said she aims to bring out the strengths of her team. Collaboration in all aspects is key in a complex setting like a hospital, and having open lines of communication with a lot of transparency are crucial, she said.
Dr. Mike Oshiki, president of Riverside Regional Medical Center and Riverside Health’s Acute Care Division, called Johnson a “collaborative and mission-driven leader who brings extensive experience in hospital operations and behavioral health integration.”
“Her leadership will help guide (the hospital) forward as it continues serving patients and families throughout the Williamsburg community,” he said in a news release.
Johnson, a Connecticut native, was familiar with Williamsburg, having worked in an alcohol addiction center before moving back to the northeast to be closer to her family. After getting through winter, Johnson said she was happy to take a call from Riverside to join the team and return to warmer weather and “a level of kindness to others that you don’t find everywhere.
“I’m grateful for how everyone has welcomed me,” she said.