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RIO RANCHO — University of New Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Center has a new, goal-driven chief.
The announcement was made Oct. 22 that Meaghan Carey Eiland, the interim chief, is now the official chief of SRMC.
She said the news she would be chief was exciting during a recent interview, adding that it was a great opportunity to lead a team that “does phenomenal work.”
“That work happens every day, day and night, 24/7/365, and to be able to be a part of the team that provides such great care for Sandoval County is really exciting to me, so I was really thankful, humbled and excited,” Eilend said.
Her first priority is to continue that work. “SRMC, whether that’s as a patient or as a visitor or a family member, you know, the building’s incredible. The team is incredible. They’re dedicated. They’re skilled. They really care about the patients in our community ... We want to continue that so that we continue providing excellent care,” she said.
The next goal is to help the hospital “look beyond” current excellence and increase access to care.
“We have a lot of folks out there in the community that need/want care, and we can provide care. So how do we grow to be able to do that, whether that’s adding on to things that we already have, like increasing access for our outpatient clinics, adding new providers,” she said.
SRMC added new advanced practice providers in the family practice area, a new orthopedic surgeon and more, according to Eiland. Orthopedics also had an update to its technology in September.
“(The new orthopedic surgeon’s name is John Krumme), and he came with a lot of knowledge and experience with a robot called the Mako that does joint surgeries in a quicker amount of time more efficiently, more safely,” Eiland said.
Krumme was the first surgeon in New Mexico to perform a surgery with a robot here, she said. SRMC’s Da Vinci robot, operated by Dr. Anna Koenig, has been used in a variety of procedures including hernia, gallbladder and bariatric surgery since March.
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Eiland hopes to expand the general and minimally invasive surgery departments with more doctors during her time as chief. There was a learning curve that came with the job, too.
“Learning the people, learning how different areas outside of the area that I knew functioned, more about different processes,” she said.
“I think the role of chief really is to be the person who can help the organization overcome, set vision and goals, but I do that with the guidance of the CEO and the executive senior, executive leadership’s vision and making it SRMC-centric and helping our team here,” she added.
Part of her job is helping her team meet the needs of the community. “We’re an important piece in that health system because we’re the farthest north and the farthest west, right, as part of the health system, and there’s lots of ruralness around us out here.”
She stated that she is not the most important person at SRMC.
“The frontline staff that takes care of the patients — hand-in-hand, face-to-face — every single day, they’re the ones really doing the hard work, and they do an excellent job at that, and I feel like my job is working for them to help them do the best job they can do most efficiently and as easy as it can be in health care,” she said.
Eiland also shared some of her morals that guide her as chief.
“Integrity is a big one, doing what you say you’re going to do, owning things when things don’t go quite right, and just being a good person, a good human, honestly,” she said.
While there are no big issues Eiland sees at the hospital that need to be addressed, she said she is impressed with how the team there handles day-to-day problems.
“When we run into something, and we say, ‘Gosh, that didn’t seem to work that great.’ Our team meets every morning to huddle, and we talk through those things regularly. We bring up safety concerns regularly, or we bring up process concerns regularly as they happen,” she said.
When asked for an update on the relationship with the unions at SRMC, Eiland said that negotiations are happening but can’t give dates or details of those until they are done.
Similarly, the LeapFrog hospital grading system score for SRMC didn’t get much response because the next score hasn’t been released yet. Eiland and SRMC administration confirmed earlier in the year that their grade had improved to a “B.” However, they are unsure of how they will be graded this year because SRMC is merged with UNM Hospitals.
Eiland did talk about what needs to improve.
“I think even more important than a specific grade from a specific company is noting that the team here at SRMC continues to work very diligently towards alignment with our wellness campus partners to make improvements to ensure that our patients are going to continue to receive really high-quality and safe care,” she said. “And as we work on that alignment and breaking things together, that sort of thing will just become evident.”
Part of that, she said, is making sure patients have a voice. The components of that are the board of advisors, which is composed of community members, and regular surveys as well as committees formed with patients in which they can express concerns.
Staff also have a way to anonymously share concerns with a “suggestion box” and surveys, too. One rising concern nationwide is for health care worker safety. In 2022, SRMC reported 34 cases of assault or battery in one year out of 359 total behavioral instances, ranging from verbal to physical assaults. A National Nurses United survey in 2024 showed that about 40% of nurses saw an increase in assaults.
Eiland said there are safety measures in place at SRMC to ensure safety of staff, including panic alarm buttons on keyboards, 24/7 security with patrol and contacts with local emergency services.
As far as tenure goes, Eiland hopes to be around for at least the next decade and is excited to see to SRMC.
“I’m a member of this community. I live in Sandoval County. My family gets care here. It’s a real honor, and I’m very humbled to be able to serve in this capacity and to help provide excellent care to our community,” she said.
