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Michelle Fortune, BSN, RN, MBA, is the CEO at St. Luke’s Hospital in Columbus. She will be the featured speaker at the January 27 meeting of the Tryon Area Chapter of the American Association of University Women at 1:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Tryon Presbyterian Church on Harmon Field Road. Fortune’s topic is “90 Years of Caring,” describing the many years of great work St. Luke’s Hospital has provided in the Foothills area.

St. Luke’s Hospital is a 25 Bed Critical Access Hospital with a 10 Bed gero-psych inpatient unit. The St Luke’s enterprise also has many affiliated physician practices and clinics. It provides care to the residents of the Foothills area of North Carolina, South Carolina and beyond.  

Fortune previously served as the Vice President of perioperative services for Atrium Health based in Charlotte. There, she had responsibility for surgical services for 11 hospitals, three HOPD locations and multiple ambulatory surgery centers as well as the anesthesia service line across the enterprise. During her tenure, Atrium Health launched a perioperative residency program for OR and PACU nurses that has been successful in reducing vacancies and improving recruitment and retention to these specialty nursing areas. 

Fortune’s career in nursing began in 1993. She gained nursing experience in a variety of specialty areas including medical/surgical, telemetry, intensive care, pediatrics, family practice, hemodialysis and surgical services. For the past 17 years, Fortune has held a variety of leadership and executive roles nationally in the for-profit and not-for-profit arenas. Her roles included Market Leader/Corporate VP of Operations, VP of Clinical Operations and Hospital CEO. 

Fortune is involved in a number of professional organizations including AORN and ASPAN. She holds a certification in the area of ambulatory peri-anesthesia nursing and has achieved the level of Fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives. Fortune has served in a variety of roles with local and national organizations such as The Joint Commission where she served as a member of the Professional Technical Advisory Committee on behalf of Physician Hospitals of America. 

Fortune earned her associate’s degree and bachelor’s degree in nursing from Gardner Webb University. She also has a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in health care management from Western Governor’s University. Fortune is a life-long learner and holds certificates from Auburn University and Harvard Business School in the areas of Lean Healthcare Management and Innovation.  

 

Submitted by Renee McDermott