Kent was born in Iowa City , Iowa and other than a few early years of his life spent in Chicago , has resided in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids , Iowa . He attended the University of Iowa like his father and 4 siblings, eventually earning a Masters degree in Counseling and Human Development.
Kent has spent most of his career working in the field of behavioral/mental health. At the age of 17, he helped a group of students create and open Foundation II Crisis Center and worked there the summer it opened. Years later he served as the Executive Director of an expanded Foundation II, Incorporated.
He worked for Linn County , Iowa as Director of Residential Services where he oversaw residential services for people with mental disabilities and helped manage a large fund used to pay for residential services purchased for similar clientele around the state.
Kent went to St. Lukes in 1987 and is still there today, the Director of Children’s Specialty Services. He led teams that opened 2 inpatient psychiatric units for children and adolescents. He went on to lead teams in designing an array of intensive outpatient services and is still at St. Lukes today running these and a number of other Children’s Specialty Services (including a large child protection center, a family counseling center and an employee assistance program).
He has served as Team Leader for the Patient and Family Experience Team, charged with improving the experience of all patients and families served by St. Lukes. This includes all inpatients (volumes of about 19,000/yr.), the Emergency Department (volumes in excess of 50,000/yr.), Ambulatory Surgery (volumes about 22,000/yr.) and Outpatient Procedures (volumes about 178,000/yr.). The Patient and Family Experience Team created a structure of multiple Teams and quickly moved their Press Ganey Scores in Inpatient and Emergency Department to the percentiles in the mid-90's.
Their approach utilized some very innovative tools, including dealing with patient and family anxiety and their emotional experience, teaching compassionate behavior, managing wait times, family-centered care and listening to the voice of the customer.
Kent always had a passion for performance improvement. He greatly enjoys creating new behavioral tools, processes and services. The love of his life is his family, his wife of over 31 years, Joy, his daughters Emily and her husband Casey, Elyse and her friend Mike, and their dog, Hollis. Kent and family love water sports, including their pool and boats.