In a rural area like Franklin County, community hospitals like Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield often serve as vital health care hubs, offering services from pediatrics and oncology to surgery and addiction treatment.
It’s a good thing, then, that the hospital is welcoming a new president and chief administrative officer this week whose varied career has spanned a wide range of those services.
Cindy Russo of Cheshire, Connecticut, the former vice president of operations for the central region at Hartford HealthCare, took Baystate Franklin’s reins at the end of May. Dr. Thomas Higgins returned to his role as the hospital’s chief medical officer after nearly a year as the interim president.
Higgins’ role will also be expanded to include oversight at Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield.
Russo’s career in medicine began just as she left high school about 30 years ago, on the advice on one of her guidance counselors. Following graduation, she pursued an education in nursing at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury and became a registered nurse, soon after finding work at a community hospital in Connecticut.
“I heeded the advice, and it served me well,” she said. “I started my career, and I worked at the bedside for a while.”
But she quickly found herself taking on her first leadership role as the hospital’s charge nurse — a position she said fit her better.
“I realized that was really more where my calling and my skills would be best utilized.” Her clinical background, she said, gave her a good base to help the hospital navigate its day-to-day operations. She used her experience as a mentor and coach for her team and as a negotiator to make sure things ran smoothly.
“Those skills weren’t necessarily used at the bedside, but I learned through my bachelor’s program that they were there and inherent in what I could do,” Russo said.
Since then, Russo’s career taken her through all types of health care, including geriatric, academic, mental health and acute care. She’s helped lead numerous large hospitals in Connecticut, including Hartford Healthcare which includes Hartford Hospital, Yale University Health Services and Health Plan in New Haven and Masonic Geriatric HealthCare Center in Wallingford.
The Baystate Franklin position will be her first outside Connecticut.
She said she was drawn to the organization as she considered the next step in her career because executive level positions aren’t frequently available and the hospital’s culture matched up with her own values.
At the helm of Baystate Franklin, Russo finds herself serving a rural county with a population that’s spread out and trends toward older people. The region also has been battered by the ongoing opioid and heroin addiction crisis.
“Those are woes that as a health care provider we need to pay attention to,” she said. “The opioid problem is one we certainly see in Connecticut, and in Massachusetts maybe even more so.”
She said she hopes to get down to the root causes of the addiction epidemic and fight it from there.
“We, as a society, owe it to our citizens to find out why this is happening, first and foremost — not just treat the individual with the problem,” she said.
Russo said her experience working in geriatric facilities has given her a solid background in the particular needs of an older population.
“We need to make sure we’re taking care of everyone’s needs, but at the same time understand that there is a senior population that continues to age and has a certain quality of life, and we need to make sure that those years are just as special to them as their younger years,” she said.
Russo said she plans to help Baystate Franklin keep moving along the path it has been following and further expand its services while bolstering community outreach.
To that end, she said she hopes to ensure that the hospital’s new $26 million surgical wing is used to the fullest extent possible.
“We want the surrounding areas and beyond to know the capabilities of the organization and make sure they’re aware that we’re here and ready to serve their needs,” she said.