Business Hall of Fame Honoree: John W. Estabrook (1927-2018), Fmr. President and CEO, Methodist Health System

“People make the difference between mediocrity and excellence. Always treat your people with respect, dignity and equity.”

A visionary and healthcare pioneer, over the course of four decades, John W. Estabrook transformed a respected 230-bed community hospital into the prominent, multi-hospital Methodist Health System.

“There are some people who manage by objectives – ‘Come in every Friday and tell me what you did this week’ – that wasn’t John,” says Steve Long, retired president and CEO of Methodist Health System. “He was out and about in the building all the time. He knew people’s names. He could be in the kitchen … or he could be down in the boiler room with the engineers. He was a boiler operator in the Navy so he knew a lot about boilers.”

In a round-about way, that’s where Estabrook’s path to hospital administration began – during his time in the Navy. The Cleveland native enlisted at age 17 and wound up contracting tuberculosis during World War II. During a mandatory two-year hospitalization, he aired a few complaints.

“When he checked out, as John told the story, the person in charge said, ‘You know Estabrook, you might want to go into hospital administration, maybe you can fix some of these things that aren’t being done quite the way you’d like.’ Lo and behold, he did and he was the perfect guy for his profession,” Long says.

After his hospitalization, Estabrook came to Omaha, where his parents had moved, and earned a degree in business administration from then-Omaha University. In 1951, a year after marrying his wife Nancy, Estabrook started at Nebraska Methodist Hospital as an assistant to the administrator. (Long started in the same position in 1970 and mirrored Estabrook’s trajectory from there.)

“Basically, he did everything,” Long says. “He ran the switchboard. He ran the elevator. He was in the kitchen, you name it.” As a result, Estabrook learned his most important lesson about hospital administration – that it’s a people business.

In 1959, then a 30-year-old assistant administrator, Estabrook rose to the role of hospital administrator, a title that later changed to president and CEO. Nine years later, he helped lead the city’s westward expansion by building Methodist Hospital at its present location at 83rd & Dodge.

“He felt strongly that it didn’t make a lot of sense to reinvest in the old buildings at 36th and Cuming,” Long says. “The town was moving west and when the new hospital was built, it became a national model.”

Estabrook’s vision for Methodist evolved into a string of early innovations, including:

• Creation of Nebraska’s first 24-hour, physician-staffed emergency room (1967)
• Acquisition of Nebraska’s first linear accelerator (1968), which helped make Methodist a leader in cancer treatment (In 2006, the Methodist Cancer Center was renamed in Estabrook’s honor.)
• Development of the region’s first chemical dependency program for adults and adolescents (1972)
• Creation of Nebraska’s first comprehensive computerized medical information system (1974)
• Development of the state’s first free-standing outpatient surgery center (1980)

Estabrook also felt called to assist other hospitals – most notably what was Children’s Memorial Hospital in 1981.

“Children’s was floundering,” Long says. “John and the leadership of his board were open to the idea of having Children’s on the campus, but his vision was to really do this the right way. So, a large addition was built, which completely housed Children’s along with some expansion space for Methodist. … It turned out to be a fantastic relationship.”

Also in 1981, another crowning achievement: Estabrook created the region’s first health system, Nebraska Methodist Health System, to oversee Methodist Hospital and eight other initial affiliates, including Methodist Hospital Foundation, Methodist College of Nursing and Shared Service Systems.

Now one of the area’s largest employers, Nebraska Methodist Health System boasts more than 25 clinics from eastern Nebraska to Western Iowa and also includes Methodist Women’s Hospital, Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs and Methodist Fremont Health.

Estabrook served as president of Methodist Hospital and Nebraska Methodist Health System from 1981 to 1986. In 1987, he devoted full attention to the health system. Long, who became chief executive of Methodist Hospital at that time, says he learned an incredible amount from his friend and mentor: “Number one, the idea that we’re there for the patient – that’s the only reason we exist.”

Estabrook retired in 1992, 41 years after his career with Methodist began. His family – and his community – mourned his passing in December. He left behind his wife of 68 years, Nancy; son John and his wife; daughter Jane and her husband; six grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

“He was a jewel of a guy,” Long says. “Everybody in the building, housekeepers to nurses to physical therapist, all knew they were on John Estabrook’s team.”