Nicholas Tejeda will be leaving Doctors Hospital of Manteca on July 3 as its chief executive officer for a similar post in El Paso at the Sierra Providence East Medical Center.

Leaving means Tejeda’s  oldest son,  6-year-old Nicholas,  will miss his cherished strawberry drinks he’s enjoyed at the hospital coffee shop for the last three years.

Ali Movasche — who runs the coffee shop —  “has gone out of his way to make Nicholas and his younger brother Alex, 3, feel special when they visit with their parents at his snack shack off the main lobby.  Dad’s last day at DHM is coming up soon when he will report to his new CEO position at the 182 bed sister hospital Texas.

“Whenever Nicholas gets an idea, he wants us to dictate a letter to whomever he wants to talk to or to thank,” Tejeda said. “Ali had given him a chocolate cupcake for his birthday this last week and he wanted to send him a note – a letter – a thank you.”.

The senior Tejeda steps down as the Manteca Chamber of Commerce president Friday night at the end of his term. He will speak on his very successful year and hand out awards including the coveted Lifetime Achievement Award to Lucille Harris of Tuff Boy Trailers.

Under Tejeda the chamber has added 106 new members with a total membership of over 300.  Tejeda said he had never before been a member of a chamber of commerce, let alone its president.

“Over the last week people have said nice things to me knowing I’m leaving,” he said. “They said that they had felt the confidence to share their ideas.  Another person in a separate discussion said they felt that when their ideas were heard, they knew something positive could happen as a result.”

Tejeda said that if the hospital has garnered any success during his tenure in adding new services and elevating the quality of the hospital operations, it was because the staff feels comfortable in sharing their ideas and that we as a team have embraced their ideas and ran with them.

“We were a team and that’s not just employees —  that’s physicians, that’s the governing board members and that’s the volunteers.  They are all part of the team and they all have had wonderful ideas to put forth.  We were just able to get them to share their ideas.”

Tejeda added that he feels extremely comforted in leaving knowing the ideas are still there,  and realizing his staff will get better in coming forth with new ways to function in their departments.

 “We still need to keep listening to each other so we can keep improving within the hospital, within the community and within the chamber of commerce,” he added.

Tejeda said he checked El Paso before accepting the new assignment.  He had been there four times and on each occasion he walked the halls and just listened when no one knew him or knew he was going to be their new CEO.  

Restaurants were also a focus where he would go to dinner and just listen to active conversations in the dining rooms to get a take on the people who live there.  He would also ask strangers where they would go to a hospital in town if they or a family member were ill. He liked what he heard. 

Tejeda and his wife Elena are closing on their new house right now plus getting Nicolas enrolled in kindergarten over there.  DHM is his second hospital with Tenet Corporation.  Prior to Manteca, he was CEO at Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, CA.

“This has been a really good gig right now,” he said. “I have had a really good position for the last three years.  El Paso is going to be a really interesting opportunity.  I never say it’s going to be better, but I know it’s going to be different.  It has been really good here, so it’s hard to say anything can be better over the fun we have had here over the last three years.”.

Tejeda has been with Tenet since 2011.

“The kids are excited about moving.  With your kids you have to tell them about the good things.  The good things so far for them include that we are going to a bigger home in the mountains at 4,000 feet.  We are going to have a better pool and I’m sure along the way we will find a toy or two to be waiting for them in the new house. Actually my wife had a good idea of having bunk beds waiting for them so they can be pals in the same room,” he said.

Tejeda added, “I think it’s fair to say that we do like new adventures, And, this will be a new adventure.  It helps to keep things fresh.”

When he came to Manteca he noted all he knew about the town was what people had told him about the community. 

“What I didn’t know, and what I now appreciate is the core members of the community who have lived here, who have invested here for decades,” he said.

He added that somehow the people here still know who the mayor is in city government, and they still know the businesses downtown and the names of the people in the newspaper – Nobody has to be a stranger, he said.

He said he will be keeping track of his team at Doctors.  He will still have the same cell phone number and the same email address if they any of them need to chat.

Tickets for the installation dinner Friday night can be obtained at the Manteca Chamber of Commerce Office on North Main Street or by calling 209.823.6121.  It will be held at the Transit Center on Moffat Boulevard.