Arnold named Chief Nurse Executive at East Central Regional Hospital

Robert Arnold has been named Chief Nurse Executive at East Central Regional Hospital and Director of Mental Health Partnerships at Georgia Health Sciences University College of Nursing.

ECRH is largest of six state psychiatric facilities. Its two campuses provide services for individuals with developmental disabilities as well as forensic and mental health services. GHSU has a partnership agreement with the hospital to provide clinical, educational and research opportunities designed to improve quality of mental health services.

Arnold will direct mental health nursing services at ECRH. He also will collaborate with Dr. Deborah Natvig, GHSU Associate Dean of Academic Nursing Practice, on a strategic plan to recruit and retain nurses at the facility; promote the ECRH/GHSU inter-professional partnership on community, state and national levels; and assist College of Nursing faculty in the development of psychiatric mental health nursing curriculum.

Previously, Arnold was Chief of Community Behavioral Health Services at Eisenhower Army Medical Center on Fort Gordon.

“Mr. Arnold brings to ECRH a reputation as a skilled clinician with leadership skills that contribute to increased morale and productivity,” said Regional Hospital Administrator Nan Lewis. “He sets high standards and promotes nursing excellence, teamwork and compassion. He will be a key contributor in the growth and development of the partnership between GHSU, ECRH and the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.”

As a Major in the U.S. Army, Arnold served as Director and Assistant Professor of the inaugural Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He also served in Mosul, Iraq, where he was Officer in Charge of the Combat Stress Control Fitness Team. His success in the combat theatre led to his selection by the Department of Defense to create and direct a new master’s level program to train military and U.S. Public Health Service registered nurses as Adult Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners.

He received numerous military awards, including two Meritorious Service Medals, two National Defense Service Medals, two Army Commendation Medals and three Army Achievement Medals.

Arnold, a certified Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist, is a member of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Texas at El Paso, where he was Nursing Student of the Year in 1995, a master’s degree in health care management from Troy University and a master’s degree in nursing from Kent State University.