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Best-Selling Author and Leader of the Radical Loving Care and Sacred Work Culture Adoption in Health Care, Erie Chapman visits Parrish Medical Center Names Parrish’s President/CEO George Mikitarian Healing Hospital CEO of the Year 2025

Best-Selling Author and Leader of the Radical Loving Care and Sacred Work Culture Adoption  in Health Care, Erie Chapman visits Parrish Medical Center Names Parrish’s President/CEO George Mikitarian Healing Hospital CEO of the Year 2025

TITUSVILLE, FLA. (Jan. 28, 2025)—Best-selling author and leader of the “Radical Loving Care” and “Sacred Work” culture adoption in health care Erie Chapman, M.T.S., J.D., visited Parrish Medical Center last week for a two-day engagement as part of the health system’s leadership development initiative.

Mr. Chapman consults with and speaks to healthcare leaders around the world about the spirit-enriching themes within his best-selling book series: Radical Loving Care, Building the Healing Hospital in America; Sacred Work, Planting Cultures of Radical Loving Care in America; and The Caregiver Meditations, Reflections on Loving presence. His books were written from his experiences as past President and CEO of three different hospital systems that thrived under his leadership because he led the implementation of the principles prescribed within his books.

“Care of patients is everything. Healthcare, he [Erie Chapman] believes, isn’t a money machine or a playground to try out the latest fad in management techniques. It should be a place where patients come to be helped, and the only response by the provider should be radical loving care,” as written by Modern Healthcare magazine writer Chuck Lauer who wrote many articles about Mr. Chapman.

Parrish Healthcare President/CEO George Mikitarian, remarked during the opening session attended by more than 80 of the system’s physician, clinical, business, and administrative leaders, that “Erie Chapman, renowned author, consultant, executive, lawyer, minister, producer, writer, and my friend and mentor, was instrumental in establishing the early inspiration for our mission, vision and values—the foundations for our “Culture of Choice”—as well as the inspiration for our emphasis and focus around quality and providing the best care possible – preferably in a loving (healing) way…listen and learn from a fellow healthcare executive and true renaissance man.”

In Chapman’s presentation to Parrish leaders, he cited “Healthcare executives have lost their way, and that the whole notion of charitable care is out of balance. Technology and business have become monstrous gods crushing first-line workers and converting them, in the eyes of many leaders, into automations or units of expense.”

He also cited an American College of Healthcare Executives survey that showed Hospital CEOs overwhelmingly (67%) stated that “financial challenges” were their No. 1 worry, while “quality” ranked fifth (23%) and “patient safety” sixth (20%). The mission of ‘loving care’ for patients did not make the list at all. It was simply not on the radar screen of healthcare leaders even though widespread review shows that loving care is part of most mission statements. No wonder we fear the treatment we and our loved ones might receive should we have to don a patient gown.”

“Parrish has dedicated itself to being different; to being and serving as a healing hospital since 2002. This two-day leadership development event featuring Mr. Chapman is among the ways we’re working to sustain a culture of loving care by offering opportunities to be inspired and to super charge our individual and collective passion and focus around our mission,” said Mikitarian.

During Mr. Chapman’s visit, on behalf of the Erie Chapman foundation, based in Nashville, TN, he presented Mikitarian with the “Healing Hospital CEO of the Year” award in recognition of his exceptional leadership and longstanding dedication to the principles of radical loving care to establish a workplace culture that supports a continuous chain of compassion and quality inside healthcare environments.

During the award presentation, PMC Board Chairman Robert Jordan said, “Every member of the Board is incredibly proud of PMC’s CEO George Mikitarian. And, I personally, am grateful for his unwavering commitment. Through George’s leadership, North Brevard’s community health system has earned an international reputation as one of America’s finest healing health systems and this recognition is a testament to the enduring culture of care that has been cultivated at Parrish; a culture deeply rooted in the system’s mission to provide healing experiences for everyone all the time,” added Jordan.

“I am sincerely humbled and honored by this recognition; a recognition that I share with each and every Care Partner, physician, employee, volunteer, and board member, who dedicate themselves to this sacred work,” said Mikitarian.