A longtime Advocate Health Care nursing leader will be the top nursing leader at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital effective June 27, 2016, hospital officials announced.

Susan Okuno-Jones has been appointed Vice President, Patient Care Services/Chief Nurse Executive. Okuno-Jones currently serves as the Vice President of Nursing Professional Practice and Innovation at Advocate Health Care’s Downers Grove headquarters and is a 29-year veteran of Advocate Health Care.

In her new role at Good Samaritan Hospital, Okuno-Jones will lead Good Samaritan's patient care services division, which includes inpatient nursing, critical care, Emergency/EMS/trauma services, perioperative services, women and children’s services, pharmacy, respiratory, care management, inpatient physical medicine and Magnet. She will be responsible for the ongoing development and sustainment of professional nursing practice and will partner with service line leadership in the implementation of Good Samaritan's strategic plan.

“We are pleased that Susan will step into the chief nurse executive role at Good Samaritan,” said David S. Fox, president, Good Samaritan Hospital. "She is a proven leader in Advocate and her experiences at both the site and system level will ensure our continued success as a high-performing organization.” 

Joining Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge in 1987 as a staff nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Okuno-Jones subsequently held a variety of progressive leadership roles there, including manager of nursing science/Magnet program director and director of professional development and service excellence. She then served as Lutheran General’s executive director of cancer, neurosciences and medical services prior to her most recent role at Advocate Health Care, the largest health care system in Illinois.

Okuno-Jones earned a Doctorate of Nursing Practice and a Master of Science in nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Master of Arts in health service management from Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

Okuno-Jones replaces Marjorie Maurer who is retiring July 1 after more than 40 years in healthcare. Maurer has spent half of her career at Good Samaritan Hospital. Under her leadership, Good Samaritan twice attained Magnet designation, the highest achievement for nursing excellence, from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Maurer was also instrumental in helping the hospital achieve other awards, including the Illinois Performance Excellence Award and the national Malcolm Baldrige Organizational Quality Award in 2010.

“With Marj’s oversight of nursing and other key clinical departments, and great collaboration with physicians, Good Samaritan has developed a well-deserved reputation for clinical, safety and service excellence,” Fox said. “Those of us who have been privileged to work with Marj admire her commitment to the nursing profession, her stand for Good Samaritan being a great place to work and her belief that physicians, nurses and other caregivers practicing in a collaborative manner can create truly outstanding care for patients.”