Edward A. Morton - CEO of NCH Healthcare System

When asked what achievement makes him proud, Ed Morton, CEO of NCH Healthcare System, doesn’t recite a litany of tangible accomplishments. He doesn’t mention the impressive expansions or programs that have taken place during the 33 years he has served the hospital — first as chief financial officer, then as chief operating officer and since 2000 as chief executive officer. He doesn’t even talk about the hospital’s news-making facilities. Instead he talks of a philosophy.

What makes him proud? That Naples Community Hospital (NCH) has remained a community-based institution that believes in the dignity of all citizens and pro ides services to the entire community.

“It’s not unique; it’s something we all take great pride in — that from the very, very young to the very, very old, from neo-natal intensive care to geriatrics,the NCH Healthcare System is focused on what is in the best interest of the patient and the best interest of the community,” he said, after pausing to consider his response. “I think, we at NCH would like to be thought of as an integral part of the community that, at its core, reflects community values.

”Morton, 58, describes himself as a “low-profile sort of person.” Staff and friends describe him as “sharp,” “a good leader and listener,” “a person who takes his responsibility very seriously and cares deeply.”

Morton served three years in the army. Then, in 1972, he came to NCH as part of the Ernst & Ernst accounting firm audit team, he recalls. He stayed on, not only to assume a position at NCH but also an active role in the community.

Morton’s commitment to community prompted his involvement in public education and community affairs. A founding member of the Collier County Education Foundation’s Partners in Education Program, he is vice chairman of Florida Gulf CoastUniversity’s Board of Trustees and former chair of the FGCU Foundation Board of Directors. He has served as a director of the Economic Development Council of Collier County and as a director of the Naples Area Chamber of Commerce.

In 2004, he was awarded the LIFE Award — Edison Community College’s highest honor, also known as the Holland T.Salley Leadership in Fostering Education award.

Morton grew up in Islamorada and Miami, where his father was a fisherman and owned a small grocery store. He admits, with humor, that he still doesn’t have much taste for fish. “I cleaned a lot of fish growing up,” he said.

On a more serious note, he says it was his father and mother who instilled in him a respect for education and the limitless potential of individuals as well as a responsibility to community.

“I have always been a believer in the principles passed along to me by my mother and father, which have to do with our individual liberties and responsibility in this country,” he said. “The only limits are yourself and your willingness to work hard.”

According to Morton, those are sentiments shared by Thomas Jefferson, whose writings became part of his education at Notre Dame. The more he read, the more he wanted to understand the philosophy that shaped this country’s conception.

“There is a notion in the world that the United States is defined in terms of of philosophy or an idea,” Morton said. “Anyone in the world can become a citizen of this nation. I find it difficult to believe that I could become Chinese or Japanese. That is because people define themselves by geography in most of the world and not by philosophy or a dream.

“But that is what America is. I wanted to understand what that dream was, how it was formed and how it was molded. And how such a remarkable confluence of minds and people could come together at a certain point in time to conceive of this truly evolutionary way of thinking — that men and women can govern themselves. They don’t need priests and they don ’t need princes.”

Morton adds that, to fulfill their potential, people have to be better educated, better informed and better prepared. Public education is the foundation. “That was a Jeffersonian philosophy — that all deserve an education.”

Putting the importance of education in the public spotlight is a mission that Morton embraces. The business-education partnerships fostered by the Education Foundation’s Partners in Education program provide one avenue geography and not in terms of participation. Morton has also been a strong supporter of programs such as Edison Community College’s nursing program, offering the program at the NCH campus.

“Education is a lifelong process, a lifelong journey,” he said. “All of us have a responsibility to participate in the educational process.”

Morton himself has an MBA from the University of Miami, a master of accountancy program and tax law from Florida International University and a bachelor of science degree in public and managerial accounting from the University of Notre Dame.

According to Morton, the participation of NCH in healthcare education and the commitment to education in general dates back to former administrator William Crone and to the hospital board, who fostered a culture of learning that is evident in the existence of the Telford education building, funded by the Telford family.

“A culture of learning tolerates change and is adaptable,” said Morton, citing important attributes in healthcare. “We 're a knowledge-based industry. What we do increasingly is exercise knowledge, judgment and education in such as way as to improve a process — the administration of clinical care.”

Knowledge alone isn’t enough, Morton said. Knowledge must be shared to be useful in the modern world.

“I once wrote my thoughts that ‘communication provides the oxygen upon which the flame of change feeds,’” he recalls. “Knowledge is no longer power. Shared knowledge is power in today’s environment. Otherwise, it’s like saying proudly: ‘I own the world’s only fax machine.’ How much value is that?

”Morton applies that philosophy to the day-to-day administration of the hospital, creating an open dialogue among staff and emphasizing that no idea is considered dumb. He encourages communication, providing the NCH team with direct and easy access to his e-mail address.

NCH Healthcare System is not without its challenges, and the biggest challenge today is the allocation of resources, according to Morton.

“There are so many needs, and only so many resources,” he said. “How we allocate those resources and the timing of that is a tremendous challenge. In a rapidly developing community,it’s difficult to stay abreast of everything simultaneously.”

Over the years he has served NCH, Morton has seen 10-fold growth, with accompanying demand on community resources as a whole. Placed against the backdrop of Morton’s earlier visits to Naples with his father — when there were only a few homes along Fifth Avenue and people still landed planes in what is now Cambrier Park — that growth is even more striking.

What is Morton’s hope for the future of NCH?

“Hope is not a strategy,” he quips, a quote his staff notes that he uses often.

“I have faith,” he emphasizes, “that the board of trustees of the NCH Healthcare System will continue to reflect our community in its rich diversity and will continue
to assure that the NCH Healthcare System provides healthcare to this community with the appropriate balance and with dignity to all its citizens.”

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