Page 58 - Healthcare News Sep/Oct 2022

CAREER PULSE
Ron Bryant Named President of Baystate Health Regional Hospitals
SPRINGFIELD — Ron Bryant, president of Baystate Noble Hospital and Baystate Franklin Medical Center – Northern Region, will extend his role to become president of Baystate Health Regional Hospitals, which also includes Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer.
His new role becomes effective on Oct. 9 upon the retire- ment of Molly Gray as president and chief administrative officer of the Baystate Health Eastern Region.
Bryant joined Baystate Health
in 2015 as president of Baystate Noble Hospital. Previously, he was executive vice president and CEO for the Noble Hospital Health System. In 2018, he was promoted to president of both Baystate Noble Hospital and Baystate Franklin Medical Center.
He brings a wealth of leadership experience and a pas- sion for positive change within the Western Mass. health- care community. During his time as president of Baystate Noble Hospital in Westfield and Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, he successfully developed the strate- gic and operational plans for the two hospitals, comprised of 200 combined beds and nearly 1,800 team members. He will now oversee three hospitals with nearly 300 combined beds and more than 2,300 Baystate team members.
Gray, meanwhile, has served Baystate Health and the community for 34 years. She has held seven roles with pro- gressive responsibility, culminating in her role as president and chief administrative officer for the Baystate Health Eastern Region, including Baystate Wing Hospital and Baystate Mary Lane Outpatient Center.
She joined Baystate Health in 1988 as a professional nurse and transitioned to a managerial role as a level IV nurse manager, a unit manager, and then Women and Infants’ manager. An advocate for children’s health issues, Gray assumed the role of director of Women’s Services
and Baystate Children’s Hospital in 2003. In 2013, she was promoted to vice president of Baystate Health Children’s Hospital, Women’s Services, Behavioral Health, Observa- tion and Emergency Services. In 2016, she assumed the role of vice president and chief Nursing officer for the Baystate Health Eastern Region and was promoted in 2019 to her current role.
Under her leadership, the team at Baystate Wing has been recognized for numerous achievements, including national recognition by the Lown Institute Hospitals Index for being one of the most socially responsible hospitals in America. Recently, Baystate Wing was also nominated for the National Kenneth B. Schwartz Compassionate Caregiv- ers of the Year award.
Aiming to strengthen and grow essential key health care services in the Eastern Region, Gray and her team worked to consolidate and relocate services. As a result, Baystate Health Wing Hospital, complete with Baystate Health and Wellness Center Palmer, has positioned itself as a center- piece of healthcare in the Eastern Region.
Frances Marthone Tapped to Lead Shriners Children’s in Springfield, Boston
SPRINGFIELD — Frances Marthone has been named the new administrator for Shriners Children’s Boston and Shriners Children’s New England in Springfield.
Marthone previously served
as the director of Patient Care Services at Shriners Children’s New England. She replaces H. Lee Kirk, who retired from Shriners Children’s New England in Janu- ary 2022, and Eileen Skinner, who retired from Shriners Children’s Boston in March 2021. Corporate
Administrator Andrew Graul provided interim leadership. Prior to working at Shriners Children’s, Marthone
served as regional manager of quality for Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer. Before that, she was the vice president of Patient Care Services and chief nursing officer for Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Shriners Children’s New England provides special-
ized pediatric orthopaedic, neuromuscular, urology, and cleft lip and palate care, with expanded services including fracture care and sports health and medicine. Shriners Children’s Boston provides specialized pediatric burn care, reconstructive plastic surgery, and cleft lip and palate care.
Kimberley Lee Joins MiraVista to Lead Creative Strategy, Development
HOLYOKE — Kimberley Lee has been named chief of Creative Strategy and Development at MiraVista Behav- ioral Health Center. A communications specialist well- known for her decades of work in the nonprofit sector, Lee stepped into the newly created role on Aug. 29 as part of the behavioral-healthcare organization’s senior leadership team.
Located on what was the former campus of Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, MiraVista opened its doors in April 2021 with inpatient adult psychiatric treatment. The hospital had closed inpatient services in June 2020, and Health Partners New England and GFI Partners bought the facility from Michigan-based Trinity Health in early 2021. A for-profit, independent hospital with a sister facility, TaraVista Behavioral Health Center in Devens, MiraVista has since opened an adolescent inpatient psychiatric unit for ages 13-18, and expanded substance-use-disorder ser- vices. It has logged 14,000 inpatient days since opening and recorded close to 220,000 opioid treatment and outpatient visits.
Lee has been vice president of Resource Development and Branding at the Mental Health Assoc. (MHA) since July 2018. The Springfield-based nonprofit serves the devel- opmentally disabled, those in recovery with substance-use disorders and mental-health conditions, the chronically homeless, and individuals with acquired brain injury. During her four years at MHA, she helped the organization secure city, state, and federal funds to expand residential recovery services, including a program for those who identified as LGBTQ+ and diagnosed with substance-use disorder and/or mental-health conditions; outpatient therapy services; and navigation services to help young adults who are homeless or at risk for homelessness secure supportive housing.
Other initiatives included launching MHA’s You Matter! Award for employees and community members. Her work on MHA’s signature yearly fundraiser, its Wellness Classic golf tournament held in September at the Country Club of Wilbraham, raised more than $115,000 in 2021, the largest amount in its 23 years.
Other Springfield-based positions Lee has held include vice president of Development at the Center for Human
Development, vice president of Advancement at Square One in Springfield, senior director of Marketing at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, and vice president of Marketing at United Way of Pioneer Valley. Her community work has included the Hampden-Wilbra- ham Regional School District, Safe and Healthy Schools Coalition; the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center Advisory Council, the board of the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, and, most recently, the Hampden County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
A graduate of the former Classical High School in Springfield and Westfield State University with a degree in communications, Lee has taught communications and marketing at Western New England University in Spring- field.
Margaret-Ann Azzaro Joins HMC as Chief Nursing Officer
HOLYOKE — Spiros Hatiras, president and CEO of Holyoke Medical Center and Valley Health Systems, an- nounced the appointment of Margaret-Ann Azzaro as vice president, Patient Care Services and chief Nursing officer at Holyoke Medical Center.
In previous positions, Azzaro spearheaded multiple initiatives to improve the patient experience and increase employee engagement. Some of the initiatives included hourly patient rounding, daily safety huddles on every shift, and developing a new nurse-mentor- ship program. She founded and
chaired a Nursing Quality Council and was the lead senior clinical partner to facilities in the design and construction of a multi-million-dollar renovation project. Azzaro helped the organizations obtain many regional and national recognitions.
Azzaro’s prior experience includes nursing and nursing leadership positions at Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, Yale New Haven Hospital, and Baystate Medical Center. She received a doctor of nursing prac-
tice degree from UMass Boston and a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Hartford. She is certified in executive nursing practice from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and is also a graduate of the Massa- chusetts General Hospital Lawrence Center of Quality and Safety Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program.
FRANCES MARTHONE
RON BRYANT
MARGARET-ANN AZZARO
MHA Names Jennifer Ducharme
VP of Development,
Community Relations
SPRINGFIELD — The Mental Health Assoc. (MHA) recently named Jennifer Ducharme vice president of Devel- opment & Community Relations. She will be instrumental in providing leadership to ensure that MHA continues to ex- pand the agency’s resources and presence in the community.
The population MHA serves includes those navigating substance-use dependency and mental-health conditions, adults with acquired brain injury, individuals with intel- lectual disabilities, and the chronically homeless.
Ducharme has held various positions with nonprofit organizations for over a decade, including the American Cancer Society, Boys & Girls Clubs, and American Red Cross. She also serves on several local nonprofit boards and councils.
18 WWW.HEALTHCARENEWS.COM SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022