Building a Stronger Boone County Health Center

For Caleb Poore, the path to becoming CEO of Boone County Health Center in Albion, Nebraska, began not in a boardroom, but on a football field in Cozad, Nebraska. As a high school gridiron player with the Cozad Haymakers, Caleb spent his fair share of time in the physical therapy clinic, thanks to the bumps and bruises that come with the game. It was there he met a physical therapist who eventually became the local hospital CEO, Robert Dyer.

“I learned a lot from him,” Caleb said.

The early encounter sparked a passion in Caleb, setting him on a course that took him from a high school healthcare work study program to Southeast Community College and Metropolitan Community College, ultimately landing him at Clarkson College where he earned his physical therapist assistant degree.

Fresh out of school, Caleb began supervising rehab departments, eventually overseeing five different facilities. Looking for a new challenge, he then moved into primary care at Burgess Health Center in Onawa, Iowa, managing five rural health clinics, working alongside nine providers, and 60 staff members. But after just a few years, he realized his ultimate passion was to serve as a hospital CEO.

To gain experience, Caleb spent five years as the CFO at Callaway District Hospital, overseeing finances and operations. When an opportunity arose at Boone County Health Center, it was at the top of his list of desired hospitals. The application process was extensive, with nearly 200 applicants. However, he kept moving through the rounds – top 100, top 50, top 10 – finally being offered his dream job.

Boone County Health Center is a 22-bed critical access hospital, with 350 staff members serving roughly 10,000 patients in its service area. For the ninth year in a row, it’s been named a Top 100 Critical Access Hospital in the nation, and for four of the last five years, it’s landed in the Top 20 out of 1,377 Critical Access Hospitals nationwide.

Since he joined, in just 18 short months, the hospital has recruited two new physicians and two new nurse practitioners, including a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, expanded its 340B program, acquired two local clinics and even relocated mental health services into the hospital. They’ve also brought on new specialties like dermatology and are starting a new geriatric mental health group therapy program.

What truly motivates Caleb has evolved. While he loved helping patients as a clinician, he found even greater fulfillment in supporting employees and providers.

“I realized you can affect so much more change in an administrative role,” he explained. “It’s satisfying helping people achieve their professional goals. I really enjoy developing the vision of our organization with our providers and board members, and then working with the staff to achieve it. It’s a big responsibility to grow the operations of an organization that is so essential to the wellbeing of not just Albion, but our county.”

For Caleb, serving rural Nebraska is deeply personal. It’s about making a positive change in people’s lives while working alongside some of the best staff in the country.

The local hospital’s role, he believes, has expanded beyond traditional medicine to include economic development, and investing in childcare and housing to keep the community thriving.

“I love rural health,” Caleb concluded, “because in rural health, we get to treat our family members who are also our friends. You likely know what’s happening in their personal lives and the struggles they’re going through or the successes they have happening. We get to take care of one another and really treat each other as a family.”