Des Peres Hospital today announced that Rita Hess, M.Ed., BSN, RN, has joined the hospital’s administrative team as chief nursing officer (CN0).  In this position, Ms. Hess assumes responsibility for the personnel, financial management and clinical operations of all nursing units.  She reports to Michele Meyer, chief executive officer.

 “Rita brings strong organizational, clinical and interpersonal skills to her new role with this hospital,” said Meyer.  “We look forward to her leadership in the areas of clinical quality and process improvement to help us continue to deliver the quality, personal care our physicians, our patients and their families expect.

Ms. Hess, 45, brings more than 17 years of nursing experience, including emergency nursing, medical surgical nursing, emergency department management and surgical trauma floor management to her new role.  She joins Des Peres Hospital from Gateway Regional Medical Center where she was CNO.  Prior to her position with Gateway, she held CNO positions with HCA.

Ms. Hess holds a nursing degree from Lancaster General Hospital School of Nursing, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a bachelor’s of science in nursing from Millersville University, Millersville, Pennsylvania and a master’s of education in health from Penn State University.  She is a licensed registered nurse.

Ms. Hess lives with her family in Glen Carbon, Illinois.