Gundersen Health System quality director joins Gundersen Boscobel Hospital Board

Dawn Thorsten, GHS quality director

Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics welcomes Dawn Thorsten, Gundersen Health System quality director, to its Hospital Board.

Thorsten joins the 11-member group that sets Gundersen Boscobel's mission, vision, policy and strategy. The board, made of system representatives and community members, also reviews reports from the CEO and senior leaders; assesses the quality and safety of care and the engagement and retention of staff and works to ensure that a successful business is being managed.

Thorsten said she joined the board because she believes in providing quality healthcare close to home and the work of Gundersen Health System's regional affiliates.

"Gundersen Boscobel is a valuable resource that provides local preventative, routine and emergency care to the community," she said. "Serving on this local hospital board will allow me to connect to this community in a new way."

As a quality director at Gundersen in La Crosse, Thorsten is responsible for the quality program, planning and interactions within the quality infrastructure to offer at outstanding experience of care across the system. Quality administration is the leadership group for Quality and Patient Safety at Gundersen.

Thorsten is a registered nurse with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. She is working toward her Master of Science degree in Healthcare Change Leadership from the University of Wisconsin–Platteville. Thorsten and her husband, Robert, live in Waukon, Iowa, and have two children.

"We are excited to have Dawn join our team," said Board Chair Jerry Berge. "Our purpose is to connect with the communities we serve and the world in which we work. Board meetings provide a platform for us to share where we are at, what we are doing and where we are heading. Our members have unique voices and perspectives and unique circles of influence."