Meet your MEC: CNO Sarah Horn, RN
Sept. 20, 2026'Each perspective is valuable and brings something the other cannot … together, we are stronger.’
By: Emily Sweet, Internal Communications Lead
Let’s continue our series meeting members of the Medical Executive Committees (MECs) at Salem and West Valley hospitals so you can get to know the people behind these leadership roles.
Next up, Sarah Horn, MBA, BSN, RN, NE-BC, RNC-LRN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing and Clinical Operations Officer at Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics and ex-officio member of the MEC. Ex-officio members are still members of the MECs, they just do not have voting rights.
What does it mean to you to be an ex-officio member of the MEC?
I have the privilege of having a front-row seat alongside some of our most incredible physician leaders. It is such an honor to witness their dedication, intelligence and genuine passion for quality patient care. Excellence is not only one of Salem Health’s values, it is our standard. It is not optional, it is how we work, and I see that standard reflected every day in how our physician leaders lead.
Being a part of MEC is one of the things I value most in my role as Chief Nursing and Clinical Operations Officer. To have the opportunity to have a seat at the table, alongside our physician leaders, where clinical decisions and physician priorities take shape, while making sure nursing and clinical operations have a voice as part of that conversation. Nursing and medicine each bring a unique and essential perspective to patient care, and our best work happens when those perspectives come together.
I consider the partnership between nursing and our physician colleagues one of the greatest strengths we have in our organization. The best patient care doesn’t belong to one profession
When nurses and physicians genuinely listen to one another, learn from one another and solve problems together, we make better decisions for our patients and for the people caring for them. The closer the collaboration, the better the care.
What inspired you to become a nurse?
Working in healthcare came naturally to me. My mom is a retired nurse who spent nearly 45 years caring for patients within these same walls at Salem Hospital, and I grew up hearing her talk about caring for patients from the heroic, and occasionally gruesome, stories that made their way to our dinner table.
My own career here began when I was just a toddler, when I starred in a pre-operative surgery video shown to children preparing for surgery. (See the photo below of me and my Cabbage Patch doll with Anesthesiologist Loyd Hiebert, MD.) My first official — and paying — job came years later, when I began working at Salem Hospital as a surgical assistant in high school. I continued in that role throughout college and nursing school.
Being a nurse was simply always what I wanted to be. It never really felt like a choice; it felt more like a calling. I never seriously considered another profession, and nearly 30 years later, I still haven't. I feel incredibly fortunate that the place where I grew up hearing my mom's stories, had my first “role” as a toddler and eventually began my career is the same place where I have had the privilege of building my life in nursing.
What sticks out to you most about our medical staff? What do you want most for them?
How much they genuinely care — not just about getting the diagnosis right or achieving the best outcome, but about the person in front of them. I’ve spent nearly 30 years working alongside physicians who go the extra mile for patients in ways that will never show up in a chart: Staying late to talk a family through a difficult decision, advocating for a patient who couldn’t advocate for themselves or showing up for one another during the hardest cases. We see it in the way they listen to patients’ fears, the clarity they bring to complex decisions and the calm they offer during some of life’s most difficult moments. That kind of quiet dedication is what makes Salem Health feel like home rather than just a place I work.
I have tremendous respect for the knowledge and expertise our physicians bring, but equally for their humanity, steadiness and commitment, and for the tremendous responsibility they carry on behalf of the people who entrust us with their care. As nurses, we have the privilege of working alongside physicians through moments of uncertainty, hope, healing and heartbreak. We lean on their strength, learn from their expertise and grow from their leadership. Their partnership strengthens our practice, elevates our teamwork and makes our work as nurses not only more effective, but more fulfilling.
What I want most is for them to feel that same sense of partnership in return. There is something really special about a physician and a nurse who genuinely value what the other brings to the table. We see different things, we know different things and we experience the patient through different lenses.
We’re true partners, not simply colleagues who happen to share a patient. My hope is our medical staff have nurses beside them whom they trust, whose expertise they value and who make their work better, just as they make ours better. When there is trust and respect between us, our differences don’t divide us, they make us stronger.
Ultimately, I want our medical staff to know how deeply we appreciate them, not just for what they do for our patients, but for what they give to all of us who have the privilege of working alongside them.
What do you want most for the patients we serve?
More than anything, I want our patients to know what a true privilege it is for us to care for them. I want them to feel truly seen and known, not simply treated. In healthcare, we are present for moments most people will never see. People invite us into some of the most vulnerable and deeply personal moments of their lives. They entrust us with their health, their fears, their families and sometimes with their very lives. To be allowed into those moments isn’t simply our job, it is an incredible privilege. That trust is extraordinary, and I never want us to lose sight of what it means to be given it.
After nearly 30 years in healthcare, what stays with me are often the moments in between: A hand held before surgery, a nurse who remembered a patient’s granddaughter’s name, a physician who sat down instead of standing at the door. Those moments tell a patient, you matter here. Not just your illness, your diagnosis, or the task in front of us, but you, the person beyond the hospital bed. Your fears matter. Your questions matter. Your family matters. What matters to you, matters to us. That’s the kind of care I’d want for my own family, and it’s the standard I hold for every person we serve.
Ultimately, I want every patient to leave knowing that when they were at their most vulnerable, they were surrounded by people who truly saw them, deeply cared about what happened to them, and understood the incredible privilege of being entrusted with their care. I want them to feel safe with us, heard by us, advocated for and genuinely cared about. I want them to know that when they are frightened or vulnerable, someone is paying attention.
What are some fun facts about you we'd never guess?
I married my high school sweetheart, I’ve been a vegetarian my whole life and I was adopted as a newborn.
Tell us about one of your hobbies!
With two busy teenagers and a husband who is a high school teacher and wrestling coach, life outside of work is rarely quiet, and I wouldn't have it any other way. For years, exercise has been one of the things I make time for, usually before the rest of the world is awake. I enjoy spinning and running and have participated in a number of organized races and relays over the years, including Hood to Coast, Cascade Lakes Relay and various duathlons.
That said, these days you are probably more likely to find me in high school gymnasium bleachers or alongside a ball field than at a starting line. I genuinely love watching my kids do the things they love and supporting my husband and son's high school wrestling team. Some of my favorite moments are spent traveling to sporting events, cheering from the stands (yes, I’m one of those moms!) and just being present for as much of it as I can.
When we're not at a sporting event, I love shopping, traveling, spending time with friends and family and being home with our two Havanese puppies, who have added equal parts love and chaos to our household.
What are you reading right now?
In all of my spare time? I’m currently reading a riveting series called My Email Inbox. It has thousands of chapters, new ones are released daily, and, unfortunately, no matter how many pages I finish, someone keeps writing more chapters, I can never seem to get to the ending. So, if we’re counting emails as literature, I’m an exceptionally avid reader! Someday I’ll have a much more interesting answer to this question.
Tell us about a recent adventure.
One of my favorites was a family trip to Florida. We started at Disney World, where we somehow managed to conquer all four parks in three days, and even made it back to one of them twice. We walked nearly 10 miles a day, packed in as much as humanly possible and made some incredible memories along the way.
From there, we went on our first Caribbean cruise, which was an entirely new adventure for our family. One of our stops was St. Maarten, where we decided it would be a good idea to take on the steepest zip line in the world. Getting to the launch point was an adventure in itself — we had to ride two chairlifts to the top of Sentry Hill before dropping 1,050 feet in elevation over a 2,800-foot run. It was breathtaking, exhilarating and absolutely terrifying, all at the same time.
Best restaurant in the Willamette Valley (and your order)?
Does DoorDash count? If so, that’s my vote. It’s convenient, the atmosphere is wherever I happen to be, the dress code is whatever I’m already wearing, the menu is practically endless, and, perhaps most importantly, everyone in my family can order from somewhere different (including the dogs!). With two teenagers, that may be the closest thing we have to a unanimous dining decision, not to mention my kids think choosing dinner from an app is far more exciting than anything I would make anyway. My order? Whatever everyone else finally agrees on.
What do you like most about Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics?
The people, the pride and the place. Salem Health is home to me. I was born here, I grew up here, I've spent nearly 30 years of my career here, and I fully intend to retire here. Not many people can say that about the place they work.
What makes Salem Health so special, though, is the people. There is something unique about the people who choose to work here and the pride they take in caring for this community. I take tremendous pride in the care we deliver and in knowing how well we care for our patients, their families and the communities we serve.
And I've experienced that care from every side. I gave birth to both of my children here. I've been the mom whose children needed emergency care and hospitalization, the mom and wife waiting through surgeries that went as planned — and some that didn't — and the family member sitting beside someone I love through illness. I held my grandma's hand as she took her last breath here. I've entrusted this organization with the people I love most during some of the happiest, scariest and most heartbreaking moments of my life. I've experienced some of life's greatest joys and deepest heartbreaks within the same walls where I come to work every day.
Every time I leave the hospital, I leave a better nurse than the nurse I walked in as. I know more than I knew at the beginning of the day and I’m grateful for the people I have the privilege of learning from and working alongside. After all these years, through every chapter of my life and career, I still know absolutely, without a doubt, that being part of this team is a true privilege.
What's the best advice you ever heard?
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” That has guided how I lead throughout my career. The most meaningful and lasting work is rarely accomplished by one person, one profession, or one team. It happens when we bring people together, listen to different perspectives, build trust and work toward something bigger than any one of us could accomplish alone. When people have a shared purpose and genuinely feel part of the journey, we don't just go farther, we get somewhere better.
