GREENFIELD — After nearly a year of operating with an interim president, Baystate Franklin Medical Center announced Monday that it has filled the permanent position.
Cindy L. Russo, the vice president of operations for the central region of Hartford Healthcare, will assume the position at the end of the month.
Hartford Healthcare runs five acute care hospitals and various other patient care service offerings and settings in Connecticut. In addition to her oversight of operations, Russo is regional executive for emergency services, surgical, gastroenterology, orthopedics neurosciences and behavioral health services, information services, facilities and support services.
“Cindy comes to Baystate with over 20 years of health care leadership, building strong community partnerships and physician relationships and fostering the creation of a positive organizational culture,” said Nancy Shendell-Falik, the president of Baystate Medical Center and senior vice president of hospital operations for Baystate Health. “I am thrilled to have Cindy as a partner in leading Baystate Franklin Medical Center and the Baystate Health Northern Region and supporting our health system’s strategic plan.”
Before joining Hartford Healthcare, Russo held the positions of director of internal medicine and urgent care at Yale University Health Services and Health Plan in New Haven, and director for ambulatory services and acute care at Masonic Geriatric HealthCare Center in Wallingford, both in Connecticut.
Russo replaces Thomas Higgins, who has served as the interim president since the summer of 2015 when former president Steven Bradley resigned abruptly for personal and medical reasons.
Higgins will return to his former role as chief medical officer, which will be expanded to include oversight at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield. There, he will replace Dr. Sarah Haessler, who has been serving as interim chief medical officer since March.
Russo is a graduate of Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, with a bachelor’s in nursing. She holds a master of science in management with a concentration in health care administration from the Hartford Graduate Center, and she is pursuing her doctorate in health administration at Capella University, Minneapolis.