Longtime Flossmoor resident comes home to take charge at South Suburban Hospital - Chicago Tribune

Michelle Blakely was not ever bound for infirmary administration. The caller president of Advocate Trinity and Advocate South Suburban Hospitals primitively planned to don a achromatic coat.

“From the constituent that I was a precise young person, I ever said I was going to beryllium a physician,” Blakely said. “I was going to beryllium an OB/GYN.”

The South Side autochthonal was a “science kid” successful precocious school. And she followed her involvement arsenic acold arsenic a premed way successful college. But determination was 1 problem.

“I’m squeamish,” Blakely said. “It took maine till my freshman twelvemonth successful assemblage to travel to presumption with the information that this astir apt wasn’t going to happen.”

After encountering elephantine insects, unrecorded rats and jumping frogs connected laboratory tables astatine the University of Illinois astatine Urbana-Champaign, she decided to gully the line.

“The cockroach truly did maine in, due to the fact that I don’t similar bugs,” she said. “That truly messed maine up.”

Michelle Blakely, of Flossmoor, started her occupation arsenic president of Advocate Trinity and Advocate South Suburban Hospitals successful October. (Advocate Health)

Blakely ne'er thought astir leaving wellness attraction each together; she earned her bachelor’s grade successful psychology. But a person successful med schoolhouse asked if she ever thought astir infirmary administration. Blakely researched it and discovered a large fit. So she recovered the champion schoolhouse successful the state for it, which astatine the clip was the University of Michigan.

“I landed determination and I haven’t looked back,” Blakely said. “That was conscionable a random speech that exposed maine to a vocation that turned retired to beryllium cleanable for me.”

She earned a master's grade successful Health Services Administration from Michigan and a Ph.D. successful organizational enactment from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Blakely’s vocation took her astir the Midwest, including stops arsenic main operating serviceman astatine Norwegian American Hospital, arsenic good arsenic main operating serviceman and subordinate aesculapian halfway manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs astatine Jesse Brown Medical Center, some successful Chicago. She astir precocious worked arsenic president of Aurora Medical Center successful Grafton, Wisconsin.

“All the time, you’re adding value, but you’re adding worth for idiosyncratic else’s community,” Blakely said. “It’s not home. When you get a accidental to bash it astatine home, it’s special.”

Blakely, who bought her archetypal location successful Hazel Crest and has lived successful Flossmoor for 2 decades now, is yet getting that accidental to oversee the wellness attraction of communities she considers her own. In October, she assumed the relation of president for Advocate Trinity Hospital successful Chicago and South Suburban Hospital successful Hazel Crest. While she had to larn the civilization and assemblage and authorities successful erstwhile roles, she instantly knows what is being discussed successful the Southland. That besides creates an added consciousness of obligation.

“I privation to bash it close for my community,” Blakely said. “When it’s your family, it’s conscionable special.”

Blakely replaces Rashard Johnson, who she said did a “phenomenal job” navigating COVID-19, which tossed retired the agendas of galore wellness attraction leaders. He inactive oversaw the completion of a operation task astatine South Suburban Hospital to unfastened a caller Center for Advanced Care and kept the prime of attraction high, Blakely said.

“To bash that successful the midst of everything other is noteworthy,” she said.

As Blakely starts her travel arsenic president, she faces a caller signifier of COVID-19. It has moved from pandemic to endemic, which means the microorganism is expected to instrumentality astir successful immoderate form. The wellness attraction manufacture indispensable proceed to unrecorded with and negociate it. But it indispensable bash truthful with a disrupted workforce portion besides addressing nationalist wellness inequities that person been highlighted successful caller years, Blakely said.

“I deliberation we’re redefining what mean is present successful wellness care,” she said. “What COVID did for our state is to item immoderate of the challenges of the wellness attraction system, and we volition everlastingly unrecorded with the information that determination is simply a caller spotlight connected wellness attraction arsenic it relates to that.”

Blakely said she is arrogant of the company’s information successful the South Side Health Communities Organization. Advocate Aurora is besides a spouse with the University of Chicago and others successful looking astatine and addressing the challenges of underserved communities successful the Chicago area. Blakely is looking guardant to tackling those challenges. That bigger representation is what attracted her to infirmary medication successful the archetypal place.

“As an idiosyncratic practitioner, you interaction a diligent astatine a time, and you’re capable to assistance radical unrecorded amended … due to the fact that of your objective intervention,” Blakely said. “The mode I look astatine the relation of a infirmary head is: Every clip I marque a decision, I’m impacting each diligent successful the assemblage that I service who chooses my infirmary and each squad subordinate who brings their professionalism to my organization. My scope is overmuch broader arsenic an administrator, and I emotion that I person that ability.”

Blakely said her eventual extremity is to marque definite Advocate Trinity and Advocate South Suburban Hospitals are some the wellness attraction supplier and leader of prime successful the area. They already person an “amazing aesculapian staff” and connection high-quality attraction to patients, she said. In her enactment role, she hopes to proceed making them “destination sites” for wellness attraction successful her community.

“It is breathtaking — this conception of existent gratification,” Blakely said. “I judge everything’s successful divine order. I’m ever looking retired for: How did I onshore successful a place? And this feels similar a gift. It’s a acquisition to maine to person had specified a agelong vocation arsenic a wellness attraction head and past to find myself successful a presumption to service the precise assemblage wherever I unrecorded and wherever I grew up. It’s rather gratifying and fun.”

Bill Jones is simply a freelance newsman for the Daily Southtown.