The Rotary Club of Sedona during its meeting on Tuesday, June 30, at the Sedona Arts Center, honored Northern Arizona Healthcare President & CEO David Cheney with its annual Paul Harris Fellowship: Make-A-Difference Award, along with a $1,000 honorarium that he will be donating to the construction of NAH’s new Cancer Center in Cottonwood.
“Every time I wake up, my biggest thing is ‘who do I need to listen to today?'” he said.
Cheney said this is how he approaches making a difference daily, “because all my actions are based on what I’ve heard from people telling me what they need from me in order for the healthcare system to be successful, and for the community to get the healthcare that they deserve.”
Doing so, Cheney said, is going to be a challenge in the coming years, because he anticipates that Medicaid changes will hit NAH’s bottom line ultimately by about $50 million a year, and “that’s going to be bad for everyone,” he said. “So we have to figure out how to work within that structure.”
Construction of the new cancer center remains on schedule for a fall of 2027 opening, Cheney said.
Cheney was nominated by Rotary member Jean Barton, who has served on NAH’s President’s Advisory Council, before and after Cheney started as the CEO in June 2023. Barton said that before Cheney’s tenure, the council focused on NAH internal issues and statistics.
“After Cheney arrived, he reorganized the ‘Advisory Councils’ with all knowledgeable community members, including Sedona’s Fire Chief,” Barton said. “The meetings now are much more informal over lunch. Dave asks what we are all hearing and what experiences we have had. Then he updates us on NAH news, successes and challenges. There has been a huge change in culture under his leadership.”
Barton was also presented with the club’s Silent Rotarian Award, given annually to those members who “seek neither recognition nor reward for activities on behalf of the club and the community,” the award reads.
“Jean has done more things behind the scenes than any person in the club, and I don’t know why she hasn’t gotten this award in the past,” outgoing president Dave Young said. “She is on the board of directors for the club, and she is president of the board of directors for the charitable fund.”
Additionally, Barton volunteers with the Wildcat Extended Day program at West Sedona School that Rotary contributed over $100,000 to in the 2025-2026 school year. The money funds the salary of Jessica Sweeney as the Community Education Director for the Sedona-Oak Creek School District.
“Jean is kind, considerate, and a great listener,” Sweeney said. “She has a deep understanding of the needs of children and of our population. Having been a pediatric doctor for so many years, she really understands child development in a very deep way, and there have been times when that has come into play during the school year, and it’s been very helpful. … Any time that I’ve ever been in a pinch or needed an extra set of hands, Jean just shows up and says, ‘Where do you want me?'”
Previous winners include Gary Karademos in 2025, Dave Young in 2024, Ray Harris in 2023, Dick Youngberg in 2022, James Sebert in 2021 and John Terhune in 2019.
Rotary’s meeting in July at Community Library Sedona will focus on the Extended Day program, with remarks from West Sedona School’s parents and faculty on Tuesday, July 13, from noon to 1 p.m., and Sweeney will be presenting on changes to the program on Tuesday, July 28, from noon to 1 p.m.
Donations for Rotary projects can be mailed to Rotary Club of Sedona, P.O. Box 2170, Sedona. Questions can be directed to jeancbarton@icloud.com or 612-750-1745.
