Moab Regional Hospital CEO Roy E. Barraclough may be stepping down after six and a half years as the hospital’s chief administrator, but he says he plans to continue serving as the administrator of Canyonlands Care Center.

  “It’s more of a transition than a retirement,” Barraclough said during a reception held in his honor at the hospital on Dec. 27. Barraclough also said he plans to assist in the search for his successor, a process he said would begin soon.

  Dozens of people, including MRH staffers and hospital board members, joined Barraclough and his wife, Karen, at the two-hour informal event, presenting him with thank-you cards and gifts of appreciation.

  “He’s never turned away from the opportunities that have been presented to him,” said MRH medical staff service coordinator Keven Lange during a short speech thanking Barraclough for his contributions to health care in Grand County.

  “He’s the reason, or one of the biggest reasons, that this hospital is here in our community,” added Vicki Gigliotti, the hospital’s chief clinical officer. “He’s worked so many hours for so many years … he just gets things done.”

  Barraclough already had a lengthy and distinguished career as a health care executive when he took the top administrative job at Moab’s Allen Memorial Hospital in June 2006. Prior to that time, he had served as administrator of several hospitals throughout the western United States, and had also managed a half-dozen building projects, including Desert View Medical Center in Pahrump, Nev., which opened about a month after Barraclough’s arrival in Moab.

  A little over three years later, in August 2009, ground was broken for Moab Regional Hospital, which opened in February 2011. The new hospital replaced Allen Memorial, which had served Moab for 53 years.

  Barraclough said he hopes his legacy lies not in the new hospital building itself, but in the many dedicated people he worked with over the years to improve health care facilities in Moab. 

  “People start believing in what can happen,” he said, mentioning and thanking the 150-plus hospital employees in particular. “That’s what I want to be able to take with me as my legacy … it’s been a pleasurable, satisfying, and rewarding experience.”

  Gigliotti said that among Barraclough’s many honors one that stands out in her mind is that he was named the hospital’s employee of the year in 2010, the only time the award was given to an administrator.

  Barraclough said that by retiring as MRH’s CEO, he will now be able to turn his full attention toward the Canyonlands Care Center.

  The 36-bed extended-care center has been struggling financially since it first opened along with the hospital nearly two years ago, but Barraclough and other officials have been working to resolve various issues surrounding the facility’s funding.

  The care center is located adjacent to the hospital but is operated as an entirely separate facility governed by a Grand County special service district called the Canyonlands Health Care Special Service District (CHCSSD).

  Barraclough will actually have to re-apply for the Canyonlands Care Center administrative position, as the job will need to be reopened and advertised in accordance with Utah law, said Joey Allred, vice-chairwoman of the CHCSSD.

  Allred said she expects the parameters of the care center administrator job to stay largely unchanged, with it remaining a part-time position. However, if he is re-hired, Barraclough would become a provisional employee instead of a contractual employee, Allred noted. She said the CHCSSD board will address the issue and make the necessary decisions at an upcoming meeting. The service district’s next regular monthly board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 31.

  In the meantime, Barraclough said he intends to keep working, including being involved in the search for his own successor at MRH.

  “We want to make sure we find the right person,” he said, noting that the selection process is expected to take at least a few months.