Taking the helm of the Guam Memorial Hospital in early June, Theodore "Ted" Lewis is excited about his appointment. "First of all, I have been a board member for a year and my background is in hospital management. And so I have had a chance to see what the hospital is like and also I have had a chance to fall in love with this community and realize how important Guam Memorial is to the residents here and to me because I live here," he proclaimed.

Lewis says taking on the role as the new chief executive officer was natural as he is well qualified to assume the position. According to Lewis, he has entered into a one-year contract, noting, "We worked out this scenario where I would be for a one-year interim appointment, which can be done rather quickly during this one year. And we both have a commitment to each other - I will manage the helm and during that I will have the opportunity to see is this something that I would want to do for the long run."

During this time the board will also have the opportunity to evaluate if they would like to continue beyond the year contract. He adds that he is confident that he will be at the hospital for many years. He says that filling the role as CEO was vital to the hospital because there is an immediate need to address urgent hospital matters, saying, "Any hospital, including Guam Memorial, you always have things that you are dealing with so you have annual cost reports. You have budgets, accreditation, recruitment."

According to Lewis, not having a CEO present at the hospital can cause concern for potential doctors they are trying to recruit. Lewis replaces interim CEO Dr. Larry Lizama, who was appointed after former CEO Jospeh Verga resigned after giving only a few hours notice to the hospital.

Moving forward, Lewis says that his goal for GMH is a simple formula, but not that easy. "If you can get everyone to work hard, to work smart, and work together, you have a formula for success. So that is my goal: work hard, work smart, and work together."

He says that some major components of Verga's five-year strategic plan, such as the rebasing of the Medicare rates, will continue to be worked on and will be a part of his administration. He adds that he will update the strategic plan to incorporate additional opportunities.