Saline Health System has appointed Jackie Wilkerson as chief nursing officer.
Wilkerson, a registered nurse, has almost 20 years of experience in healthcare leadership roles, including associate chief nursing officer at HCA Tristar Centennial Medical Center, associate administrator at Saline Health System, and market chief nursing officer at Sovah Health.
“We are so excited to have Jackie step into this important leadership role,” said CEO Char Boulch. “She is an exemplary leader with a tremendous amount of both clinical experience and operational expertise. Her commitment to patient care, physicians, employees and the community is evident in all that she does, and I know that she will help us further advance our mission of making communities healthier.”
As chief nursing officer, Wilkerson said her primary focus is going to be on nurse recruitment and retention. As a market chief nursing officer at Sovah Health, she established a nursing residency program with a recruitment average of 50% of local colleges with an 85% retention of new graduate nurses over a two-year period.
“Coming back home to work with the wonderful team at Saline is a huge blessing,” Wilkerson said. “I look forward to building on the strong foundation that already exists and helping the leadership team look for even more ways to improve the overall health and well-being of this community.”
Wilkerson holds a Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Harding University in Searcy, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Memphis in Memphis, and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Education from Harding University.