Smoothing over disputes is something Chris Van Gorder knows well. As a police officer in 1980 he was sent to soothe a domestic disturbance call that went bad and left him injured, forcing his retirement from law enforcement. Today as chief executive and president of Scripps Health, a $1.1 billion, 1,200-bed hospital and health care nonprofit, Van Gorder sometimes responds to disturbances within the organization’s ranks. The defusing tricks he learned in his earlier career still come in handy.

“In a surprising way that’s a very definite asset,” says Ames Early, a retired health care executive who once ran Scripps. “One of the things a successful officer needs to do is size up stressful circumstances in a hurry and pursue the right course of action. When you’re an officer, you’re there on the front line, so to speak, you’ve got to do it.” Although he didn’t have the opportunity to work with Van Gorder, Early, as a hospital trustee, has had a front row seat to watch Van Gorder in action. “He’s a very effective, action-oriented leader,” Early says. “He’s doing an excellent job in a very complex organization.”

A deep love of family and sincere dedication to Scripps is the prescription for Van Gorder’s healthy success. He tries for a balance of self and career and admits sometimes he feels it is his family that comes up short of his attention. “But I’ve never heard a complaint,” Van Gorder says.

In an office decorated with photos, certificates and accolades for leadership excellence, the 6-foot, 1-inch Van Gorder sits tall in front of a desk piled high with reports and shelves full of books. The top shelf holds a collection of hats, indicative of the multiple hats Van Gorder, 50, has worn so far in his life.

Van Gorder stepped into the role of interim CEO in June 2000, just in time to save five of Scripps’ six hospitals. Recovery wasn’t going to be easy. The system was running at a loss and Van Gorder’s predecessor, Dr. Stanley Pappelbaum, left after receiving a vote of no confidence from the hospitals. It was up to Van Gorder to rebuild a strong foundation from within the broken structure of Scripps. But strength is what this man is all about.

While in rehab at Orthopaedic Hospital in Los Angeles from that 1980 domestic disturbance call, the former Monterey Park police officer was hired as the hospital’s director of safety. It was here he met his wife, Rosemary, and decided to head back to school where he earned a health services administration degree from the University of Southern California. Van Gorder turned that education into a new career, serving as executive vice president of Memorial Health Services and then CEO of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center before coming to Scripps in 1999 as chief of health care operations.

Scripps is a not-for-profit community-based health care network comprising five hospitals, 12 ambulatory and home health clinics, 9,732 employees and 2,250 physicians. Under Van Gorder’s direction, the system has gone from a nearly 3 percent operating loss of $21 million to a nearly 1.5 percent operating profit of $17 million. Operating income comes from patient care while non-operating income is generated by things like real estate, renting out buildings and office space. Labor is the organization’s biggest expense at nearly 60 percent; the rest of the outflow is in supplies and utility costs. Van Gorder says the state of health care in San Diego is “stable but challenged.

“The health care organizations that are in play today are probably going to be in play 10 years from now. About four hospitals in San Diego have closed in the last five years. I don’t know of any hospital at this point that is so challenged that it’s going to close. The problem though is that reimbursement is not catching up, especially on the government side.”

In order to cover rising costs of medical equipment and supplies, providers have had to increase the rates paid by commercial health insurance companies. Van Gorder says the health care system is running pretty close to capacity right now and if an insurance company wanted to move its medical business to another system, most hospitals simply don’t have the capacity to take them. “We are not making the kind of income necessary to add capacity,” Van Gorder says.

In addition to rising costs, hospitals are faced with a tight labor pool. Colleges, needing to teach more students in larger classes, are cutting medical classes which tend to be smaller in size. Also, competing with the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday schedules offered at outpatient clinics and doctors’ offices, midnight and weekend shifts at hospitals are unappealing to many. Only recently have the hospitals begun to focus on this dilemma. Funding SDSU’s nursing program is one attempt to create a bigger workforce.

Education is important and ongoing for Van Gorder. Late last year, he returned to teaching CPR, something he has been dedicated to since he was a teenager. He tries to teach a class every two months for Scripps employees. “It goes back to being a police officer and responding so many times to situations where somebody was hurt or having a baby. You’ve got to be ready for those kinds of things,” he explains.

Moving into his administrative position, he pulled away from CPR for a few years, but has returned as a way to give back. “I get to spend time with employees here,” he says. “I get to spend an entire day with them. By the time we’re done, I know them really well and they know me really well. It builds a better relationship. And I think everybody in the organization has the obligation to be a teacher.”

In addition to his duties at Scripps, Van Gorder is a Civil Air Patrol squadron commander. He signed up with his oldest son after the family relocated from Los Angeles. After a year, he was asked to command the squad. He has led the group for two years. Not licensed to fly, Van Gorder is a mission scanner, the eyes in the sky on a search and rescue mission.

Daryl Newton, a deputy commander for CAP cadets, says it’s a privilege to work with Van Gorder. Newton explains that CAP, although a volunteer organization, is time intensive. He marvels at how Van Gorder can keep on top of the administrative duties required of him at Scripps and be as involved and committed as he is to the duties of a squadron commander. “Not to mention being directly involved with working with all the different personality types in our program — kids ages 11 to 21 and adults up to whatever,” he says. “To have the energy to devote time to our organization is above and beyond.”

If that weren’t enough, Van Gorder also volunteers on the ground with the Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team. The big watch on Van Gorder’s wrist gives insight to his dedication to his search and rescue efforts. Not only does it tell time (in very big digits), it is a compass, altimeter and barometer. Asked whether he sleeps, Van Gorder chuckles and says, “Not much.”

Dedication and devotion are paramount with this man. One only has to bring up his interests to glimpse the passion within him.

Very dear to him is his family. Van Gorder speaks highly of his wife’s volunteer efforts and her career, which she gave up so he could advance his. When they met, Rosemary, who has a master’s degree in early childhood development, was a director of the children’s department at Orthopaedic Hospital. In addition to various volunteer efforts, she cares for their two sons, David, 15, and Michael, 13.

Van Gorder is very appreciative of his family’s support and gives them credit for his success. He worries about the time he doesn’t give them but says they are what he is most proud of in his life. When asked for his greatest professional accomplishment, Van Gorder doesn’t hesitate to answer “being appointed CEO of Scripps. I never would have dreamed of this moment.”

Committed to staying healthy, Van Gorder keeps fit through his ground exercises with search and rescue. Once an avid runner, he has completed more than 22 marathons, but he admits that there is no longer time to train. His running around these days is between his office and the Scripps hospitals.