Harbor Beach Community Hospital will be saying goodbye to its president and CEO of eight years, according to a recent release. Paul Clabuesch will leave the position upon his retirement, effective Friday, June 30.
"I don't believe we could have accomplished all that we have without him," said Patrick McCollough, a member of the hospital's board. "His leadership turned the Harbor Beach Community Hospital into a very successful institution with the independent capability to survive, modernize, and expand its buildings and services to Harbor Beach and the surrounding communities as an effective rural health care facility."
Clabuesch's success is partially thanks to his experience as the CEO of Thumb Bank, a position he held for 40 years before his first retirement. He found afterward that he didn't care for retirement, but he didn't have to wait for long.
"I wasn't sure what I was going to do and I was approached by a couple of board members of Harbor Beach Hospital," he recalled.
The hospital was in the middle of changing its leadership and wanted Clabuesch to put his name forward as a candidate. He had served 34 years on the board of Scheurer Hospital, with 20 of those years seeing him as chairman, and had learned a lot from then-CEO Dwight Gascho and Dr. Ali Khan. After some consideration, he accepted the offer.
Looking back on his tenure, Clabuesch is most proud of how he and the rest of the hospital's staff have rekindled the public's confidence. Before he arrived, the hospital was struggling. During his time, the hospital picked itself back up by bringing in fresh faces and taking advantage of the talent already on the staff.
"We got new people, we've got new facilities, and we've given them the chance to be successful and they have, in fact, done that," he said.
Two of the biggest projects Clabuesch oversaw were the expansions made to the facility. A medical arts building was added, which provides physician offices, patient treatment rooms, orthopedic services, a mental health and telepsychiatry clinic, and a pulmonary rehabilitation program. The existing buildings were modernized and updated with a new lobby, private registration desks, a walk-in clinic, laboratory draw room with accessible bathroom facilities, and a nuclear medicine facility.
After such a successful time at the hospital, Clabuesch will be retiring a second time to fulfill personal pursuits, spend more time with his family and grandchildren, travel, and have time to appreciate his accomplishments.
"You feel as though you've had your opportunity and it's time to give someone else a chance, I guess that's the best way to put it," he said.
"I have complete confidence that the hospital has all the necessary tools and personnel to be successful well into the future," he added. "We hope we've built a solid foundation to continue the top-flight service we've been providing for the last couple of years."
Jill Wehner, current vice president of fiscal services and chief operating officer, will step in as the new CEO effective Saturday, July 1.
