Discove r Cit yV iewN C.co m's fre s h up d ate d loo k ! | 55
It's more than a job
BY CATHERINE PRITCHARD | PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATTHEW WONDERLY
M
ike Nagowski didn't understand.
It was a Friday morning and the
CEO of Cape Fear Valley Health
was getting ready to go to work.
Meanwhile, his wife was looking at
him like he was crazy and asking what he was doing.
He answered reasonably: "I'm getting dressed for work."
"We have a 10 a.m. flight!" Kim Nagowski exclaimed.
"We're going on vacation!"
"Oh," he replied. "Great! Where are we going?"
Nagowski laughed as he recalled the incident. As head
of North Carolina's eighth largest healthcare system, with
$1.1 billion in revenues and 7,500 employees at hospitals
and medical facilities throughout the Cape Fear region, he
spends most of his time immersed in work.
"It's not a J-O-B for me," he said, spelling the word out.
"It might sound odd but this is my hobby. is is what I do.
is is who I am. is and my family. And that's it."
Add in a few hours each year of watching the Buffalo
Bills play on TV and he's perfectly happy – though maybe
not so much with the Bills.
"is is the year!" Nagowski said of the team he grew up
rooting for. "I say that every year," he added.
Nagowski's past 11 years at Cape Fear Valley have all
been the year in their own ways. During his tenure there,
the system has seen tremendous improvement and growth.
Revenues have nearly tripled. e system now includes
eight hospitals and medical offices in all of the surrounding
counties. Admissions have risen by 41 percent. Numerous
programs have been introduced to upgrade the levels of
care available in the Fayetteville area. e hospital has
started its own research company.
F E A T U R E
