North Valley Hospital Chief Executive Officer Craig Aasved will resign July 11 to take a job as chief operating officer at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula.

During his eight years at the Whitefish hospital, Aasved oversaw the planning and construction of a new hospital, a project that initially was controversial because the hospital was moved to the outskirts of the resort town near the intersection of U.S. 93 and Montana 40.

Aasved also took a leadership role in bringing the Planetree health-care model to North Valley nearly six years ago. Planetree's philosophy empowers patients to take charge of their own health and wellness.

Carol Blake, North Valley Hospital community-relations director, listed numerous achievements during Aasved's tenure, including a critical-access designation for the hospital; creation of a hospitalist program; the addition of plastic, reconstructive, urological and full-time radiologist services; a sleep-study center; expanded MRI technology; 64-slice CT scan; digital mammography and creation of a medical office village.

The new hospital received state and national recognition for its architectural design, and the hospital foundation completed a $6 million capital campaign, Blake said.

Aasved, a Lewistown native, was named a fellow in the American College of Health Care Education last year and has been an active community leader in Whitefish.

He came to North Valley Hospital in March 2000 as interim administrator and two months later was named CEO. Prior to that he was administrator of Wheatland Memorial Hospital in Harlowton. His career also included an eight-year administrative stint at a hospital in Brush, Colo.

In his role at North Valley, Aasved has been an employee of Quorum Health Resources, the company that manages the hospital.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com