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McCarty Center
Leadership Changes For The First Time In Twenty
Years
(June 28, 2010)
In a contest of longevity, Curt Peters, director
and CEO, for the J. D. McCarty Center for children
with developmental disabilities in Norman, comes
in second, though it is a close second, to Harper
Orth who served as director and CEO for 25-years.
On Wednesday, June 30,
at 4:00 p.m. Peters will close up his desk,
leave his office and walk out to his car in
the parking lot for the last time. After 20-years
as director and CEO of Oklahoma’s center
of excellence in the care and treatment of children
with developmental disabilities, Peters is retiring.
Peters is originally from
Lawton, Oklahoma. He received his Bachelors
in history from Oklahoma State University in
1966, and a Masters degree in Hospital Administration
from Baylor University in 1977.
Upon graduating from OSU,
Peters entered the U. S. Army as a Second Lieutenant
in the artillery and ended his career as a Colonel
in the Army’s medical service corps. Wounds
received in Viet Nam precluded Peters from staying
in the Army in a combat arms role. He was either
going to have to get out of the Army or choose
a non-combat arms role. “I chose the medical
service corps,” said Peters. “I knew
it would lead to more education and a continued
career path after the Army.”
Peters’ postings in
the Army medical service took him to some of
the best-known healthcare facilities in the
U. S. Army. His postings included the Army Hospital
at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, the Pacific
Surgeons Office in Hawaii, Fitzsimons Army Medical
Center in Denver, the Fort Carson Army Hospital,
the Army Surgeon General’s Office, Walter
Reed Medical Center, 85th Medical Battalion
Commander at Ft. Mead in Maryland, Office of
the Inspector General 7th Medical Command in
Germany and Reynolds Army Hospital at Fort Sill
in Lawton.
It was while Curt was stationed
at Reynolds Army Hospital and contemplating
another assignment or retirement from the Army
that opportunity knocked. It knocked in the
person of John Kilgus, a civilian employee at
Reynolds Army Hospital and a member of the Cerebral
Palsy Commission, the governing board of the
McCarty Center.
Kilgus talked to Peters
about the director’s position that was
going to open up with the retirement of Mike
Beale and asked Peters if he would be interested
in interviewing for the position. He accepted
the invitation to interview. As a result, Peters
retired from his 24-year Army career on May
31, 1990, and started to work as the new director
and CEO of the McCarty Center on June 1, 1990.
During the last 20-years
Peters has been responsible for expanding and
increasing the services provided to the population
of patients the McCarty Center serves. Under
his leadership, outpatient services were added
to the hospital’s service menu. Contracting
with schools to provide therapy services to
students with disabilities that are mandated
by federal law was another addition. In 1996,
the pioneering use of teletherapy, the providing
of therapy services to remote, rural areas of
Oklahoma using broadband internet, was added
to the service mix. The McCarty Center now keeps
two teletherapy studios busy during the school
year providing physical, occupational, speech
and language therapy to children around the
state. And finally, several inpatient and outpatient
clinics were added.
“My two biggest challenges
as director,” said Peters, “were getting
approval and funding for our new hospital facility
that was completed in October of 2004, and dealing
with the legislature on budget issues every
year. While we earn 86% of our annual operating
budget from our fees for service, the state
appropriation we receive is critically important
to the service we provide to our patients.”
Since the McCarty Center
became a state agency in 1948, five men have
held the position of director and CEO of the
hospital. On July 1, 2010, Vicki Kuestersteffen
will be the first woman to step to the helm
of the McCarty Center.
Kuestersteffen holds a
Bachelors of Science in microbiology from the
University of Wyoming (1983) and a Masters of
Science in nutritional science from the University
of Oklahoma (1990).
“My master's
thesis was on Zinc bioavailability during recovery
from malnutrition,” explained Kuestersteffen.
“I chose that subject to study because
I was going to do mission work overseas. But
I took a job with the McCarty Center and soon
discovered that I could do my mission work here.”
Kuestersteffen has been
with the McCarty Center for 18-years. Her roles
at the hospital have included food service director,
quality assurance/performance improvement manager
and principal assistant to the director. She
has been the deputy director of the hospital
since 2002.
Just as Peters did, Kuestersteffen
sees her primary job as patient care. “We
do a really good job of creating a good environment
for our patients,” said Kuestersteffen.
“I want to make sure that I also create
and maintain a good family environment for our
staff and the community.“
A reception was held in
honor of Peters on Tuesday, June 29, at the
hospital’s conference center. During the
reception, the Cerebral Palsy Commission honored
Peters for his service, his leadership and his
vision by creating and establishing the Curt
Peters scholarship endowment to send a deserving
child to Camp ClapHans annually. Camp ClapHans
is a summer camp project of the J. D. McCarty
Center that Peters has been working on for several
years. The camp is scheduled to be open the
summer of 2012.
The J. D. McCarty Center
is a pediatric rehab hospital providing inpatient
and outpatient services in physical, occupational,
speech and language therapy to children with
developmental disabilities from birth to age
21. Established in 1946, the McCarty Center
only treated one diagnosis…cerebral palsy.
Today, the hospital has treated more than 70
different diagnoses in the developmental disability
category.
For more information about
the J. D. McCarty Center visit www.jdmc.org.
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