For 31 years, Maura Fields has cared for patients in the Flathead Valley and led more than 250 staff members in North Valley Hospital’s 11 clinical areas. Last month she announced her retirement.

“I am so appreciative of my experience at North Valley Hospital over the last three decades,” said Fields. “As the hospital grew and evolved, I too grew as a person and a professional.  I will miss the great people who have felt more like family than coworkers.”

Fields served as chief clinical officer at NVH. She lives in Whitefish with her husband, Edwin. Her two adult children, Lynn-Wood and Colin, graduated from Whitefish High School.

“While I’ll always be a caregiver at heart, I’m looking forward to a summer of fly-fishing and canoeing and a winter of enjoying the ski slopes on Big Mountain, as well as spending more time with my grandson, Bryton,” Fields said.

Fields earned her registered nursing degree from St. Louis University, which she describes as an education that emphasized social activism and an ethical view of the world. She worked in oncology and intensive care nursing, and completed an epidemiology research position in Boston.

Fields came to Montana in 1979 as the director of nursing for St. John’s Hospital in Libby. She moved to Whitefish in 1983 to assume the position of nursing director at North Valley Hospital. Since that time, she held various nursing administrative positions at North Valley served as the chief clinical officer since 1998.

Fields was a leader in bringing the Planetree philosophy of healthcare to North Valley Hospital in 2012. Planetree International is an independent non-profit organization that assists hospitals to implement best practices in patient centered care.

Fields joined the Board of Directors of Shepherd’s Hand Free Clinic in Whitefish in 2002.  She also serves on the advisor boards of MSU College of Nursing, Flathead Valley Community College Nursing Program and the Western Montana Area Health Education Center.

“We have been privileged to have Maura on our Senior Leadership Team,” said North Valley chief executive Jason Spring. “Her experience and continual dedication to quality medical care and patient experience has helped take North Valley Hospital to a higher standard of care. She will be sorely missed, but we wish her well in all that the future holds.”