Tracie Stratton was inducted into the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos September 20 and is pictured here with her sponsor, Morrie Pongratz. Courtesy photo

LAMC CEO Tracie Stratton addresses the Kiwanis Club September 20. Courtesy photo

BY BROOKE DAVIS
Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos

Tracie Stratton, the new chief executive officer at the Los Alamos Medical Center, was the speaker at Kiwanis on September 20. She was also sworn in on that same day and became the newest member of the Los Alamos Kiwanis.

Both Stratton, who is a nurse, and her husband, a geotechnical engineer, were born and raised in Wyoming and lived there for many years. Although she thought highly of the state, she admitted that she got tired of the harsh winter weather. She was very happy for the opportunity to move to Los Alamos and said she loves her work here.

Her goal at LAMC is to improve the quality of health care by moving several initiatives forward. One of the key initiatives is recruiting staff. In 2021, 26 physicians were added and 31 added in 2022, coming in with a wide variety of skills. The hospital would like to recruit in the fields of obstetrics, radiology, telecardiology, and orthopedic surgery.

She admitted that recruitment is a challenge. Attracting physicians to small towns is tough and even more so since the pandemic when many people left the field of medicine because of burnout from the COVID demands.

LAMC did more than $1 million in capital improvements in 2021 and is continuing a program of upgrading their equipment. Recent purchases have been a state-of-the-art mammography machine and a new radiology camera. 

Stratton praised the hospital staff for their efforts in providing quality work to those in need every single day.