Roberta Saunders-Gray joined Bon Secours Baltimore Health System Inc. in October as chief operating officer.
The Connecticut native comes from the St. Charles Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in Port Jefferson, N.Y. As president and chief executive, Saunders-Gray oversaw all operations of the 289-bed facility.
A graduate of Howard University and Georgia State University, Saunders-Gray’s career in health care spans nearly a quarter century. She has served as a manager at Howard University Hospital, as well as in institutions in New York, St. Louis and New Haven, Conn.
At Bon Secours in West Baltimore, Saunders-Gray is using the hospital’s technology and outreach programs to improve patient services. The hospital is among 28 health-care facilities nationwide operated by Bon Secours Health System Inc., based in Marriottsville.
Bon Secours Baltimore has housing for families on Baltimore Street in the city. It also operates four independent-living centers for seniors — at Liberty Village on Towanda Avenue, at Benet House on Millington Avenue, at Hollins Terrace on Hollins Street and at the soon-to-be-opened Smallwood Summit on Baltimore Street.
Why did you choose a career in health care?
Health care was a natural outgrowth for me, from my childhood. Throughout my career, I have always focused on public service. Though most of that focus has been on the economic, health and educational welfare of people who are underserved, I wanted to be sure that I was providing a service and that I was always committed to the betterment of people in general.
Why did you choose Bon Secours?
I like the holistic approach at Bon Secours. It is a system, not just a hospital. For me, this approach has broader dimensions than in other places I have worked. It offers more opportunity for meeting the needs of the community. Stand-alone hospitals, although they are significant, have a major impact, but, oftentimes, treating the acute aspect of a problem is usually not enough.
The other thing that makes Bon Secours attractive is that, here, we have great opportunities for new-leadership development for health-care workers. Many community health systems, due to financial problems, are ceasing to exist. Even where they may exist, they are so strapped financially that they cannot provide the gamut of services that they had before.
What is Bon Secours’ mission?
The holistic approach of helping people to wholeness — body, mind and spirit — is the main mission. Historically, it has had a lot to do with the founding of the [Sisters of Bon Secours] congregation itself, who came to Baltimore from Paris [in 1881] to care for the sick and dying in their homes. It has been proven that you cannot address people?s problems in isolation.
How does that mission fit within the hospital’s business plan?
That is really a struggle for us, quite frankly, because — just like it is for most health-care institutions — we are struggling to deal with issues of how do you maintain financial viability and bring quality care to the people you serve.
We do have some really good programs and services, as we continue to think outside the box. In many instances, the mission points the way. We are listening to our patients and the community we serve and are exploring new services to meet their needs.
Such as?
As difficult as it is, we provide extensive psychiatric services here. It is a very large component of what we do. We also provide some preventive cardio services. We are looking to expand them.
A large part of the community we service is Washington Village. We cover primary care, such as ophthalmology, gynecology — just serving mainly the seniors in that area. To date, we have close to 500 affordable-housing units that are occupied by families and seniors.
At our Family Support Center, we offer parenting programs for single mothers and fathers, GED programs and job-readiness skills classes for anyone ready and able to go to work. Our Imani Center provides outpatient HIV counseling and treatment, and we have drug-treatment programs as well as psychiatric services.
At our Liberty campus, we have the Connection, a fitness and wellness center, and we provide primary care and specialty health care for adults and children in our Family Care Centers.
What new projects are under way?
We are about to open the Smallwood Summit, an 83-unit facility for seniors, on Baltimore Street. We are also looking at what we can do to bring health care closer to those units, so that seniors won?t have to travel far. One suggestion is having a physician at the center for a specific number of hours a week. It is already being done on a limited basis in the city. What we want to say to the seniors is that here is good, quality health care.
Our Bon Secours Tele-Heart Program is breaking new ground for patients with congestive heart failure. Through personalized out-patient home care, patients will have better access to their physicians and other health-care professionals, through a new telephone system and individual home visits.
Hopefully, this program will reduce the emergency visits to the hospital.
What is the average age of a Bon Secours patient?
The majority are seniors, over 55; however, younger families and children are also cared for at our three Family Care Centers.
What does Bon Secours Baltimore want to be?
I envision a Bon Secours Baltimore that provides state-of-the-art clinical care and services for men and women in our community, with less of an emphasis on acute care and other serious afflictions. We will be doing our job when most of what we provide is preventative health care.
