Jo Wahl ’86, ’95

Jo Wahl ’86, ’95, always knew she wanted to be a nurse. After graduation from high school, she immediately entered the diploma program at Grace (now Sinai-Grace) Hospital. At that time, all of the program’s core curriculum classes were taken at University of Detroit. She remembers “all of us student nurses taking the Grace Hospital school bus to U of D for our first year.”

Wahl earned her diploma in Nursing in 1977. She had been working for a few years at Henry Ford Hospital and hadn’t given much thought to continuing her education when she experienced, in her words, “a life change” when her sister died very suddenly.

Said Wahl, “My sister and I were very close in age. Her death was very sudden and tragic. I decided perhaps there was a life-changing message in my loss. I made the decision to return to school and obtain my bachelor's degree in nursing. The University offered me a wonderful opportunity, so I returned to school in 1984, while working full time, and graduated in 1986 with my BS in Nursing.” 

In 1995, she earned her master’s degree in Health Care Administration from UDM.

Wahl has remained with Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) for nearly all of her career, steadily attaining greater levels of responsibility in both patient care and administration. In 2006, she was named Chief Nursing Officer and Vice President of Patient Care Services at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital - Warren, and in May of 2011, she moved into the same role at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital (HFWH). She appreciates HFWH’s community setting and involvement. “People who were born here continue to choose Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital to receive care throughout their lives. People choose to receive care here for themselves and their families because of its familiarity and quality care. It’s our responsibility to keep it that way.”

Wahl credits U of D and UDM with giving her the social consciousness that serves her to this day. She appreciated a strong curriculum and the philosophical framework of servant leadership. “You are always thinking about your role in the community and how and why are you doing what you’re doing,” said Wahl. “I have a strong need to give back to the University, so for the past three years I’ve precepted UDM MSN and MHSA students in their clinical practicum experience.”

Wahl also values the knowledge gained through the real-life experience of her instructors at the University. “Our instructors were experienced through their full-time positions in health care administration in the community. This was beneficial in our learning to not only provide the theoretical framework but the practical and situational advice, which is sometimes very important to a successful career in health care. In addition, all of my classmates were also working in health care, which also helped us relate learning to the actual workplace environment.”

Wahl supervises patient care at a challenging time in the healthcare industry. Health care reform, tighter budgets, and an aging patient population, Wahl said, “have really caused healthcare administrators to conclude that we need to proactively address and improve the care we deliver today, as opposed to being reactive to legislative changes and a complex patient population. This will be fundamental to our delivery systems in the next few years.

“Health care reform will drive the size and functioning of hospitals. The focus of health care delivery will be to provide care to patients outside of the hospital and keeping individuals healthy. Hospitals may be much smaller in size, but will care for very acutely ill patients.”

As the reimbursement models changes, patients’ perceptions of hospitals will take on central importance. Wahl said, “Potential patients have choices in their health care locations. They will choose hospitals where they feel comfortable and a partner in their care. Our focus will be to provide quality care in the era of a very informed consumer. Our patients, as health care consumers, are much more informed through the Internet and access to information that historically was not available. Patients expect competence in the clinical professionals providing their care. What they can measure, understand and evaluate is the way they were treated and how their environment helped in their healing or respected their loved one at the end of their life. Communication with our patients and their families is so important.

“We’re going to have to reinvent our processes to assure quality care in a more efficient environment. Our paradigms have changed; we have to shift into a new way of thinking.”

One way that Wahl thinks resources will shift in health care will be from the hospital to the community. “This change enforces the need for bachelor’s-prepared nurses, advanced practice nurses such as nurse practitioners and nurses with doctorate degrees to provide care in the community. This trend in health care has provided the increased enrollment of nurses pursuing advanced degrees in nursing practice. We’re seeing education adapt to our changes in the healthcare environment.”

With the emphasis moving towards prevention, rather than treatment, holistic and alternative therapies may become more common. Wahl said, “HFHS provides alternative and complimentary therapies as a supplementary component of clinical health care. Some of the therapies include acupuncture, meditation, Reiki therapy and massage therapy. HFWH will continue to assess the requests of our patients as we look to new ways to assist our patients to a healthy state.”

Added Wahl, “Nurses and physicians will have to be comfortable with newer care delivery methods, treatments and therapies. Nursing is so crucial to the effectiveness of health care. As a nursing administrator, I’m here not only to make sure that the nursing care at the bedside is good, but also to remove barriers to provide safe care while working collaboratively with our care team colleagues.”

Another change already occurring is the manner in which hospitals like HFWH are reaching out to patients. “Social media is how people communicate now and is, for some patients, a preferred method of information gathering and communicating,” said Wahl. “If social media is used appropriately it’s a great way to build relationships with our community.”

Wahl summed it all up by saying, “These are best of times in health care, and also the most challenging times. The best, because organizations that are innovative, patient-centric, creative and, at the same time, able to deliver great quality of care and patient satisfaction are going to excel. But, the challenge remains because change is difficult for patients and our providers. Change is the only constant as health care adapts.”