The CEO of New York’s largest hospital system has revealed how he went from an impoverished boy residing in Eire to some of the profitable healthcare executives in the USA.
Michael Dowling, chief government at Northwell Well being since 2002, has performed an integral position in increasing the corporate from only one Lengthy Island hospital to a series of 28 hospitals and 1,050 outpatient facilities throughout the tri-state space.
However he definitely had humbler beginnings, which he has been reflecting on amid the information he’s set to retire in October.
Dowling, 75, advised the New York Submit that he lived in a thatched-roof home with out operating water.
Within the Nineteen Sixties at simply 16 years outdated, he left his tiny city of Knockaderry with simply 500 residents for New York, one of many greatest cities on the planet.
‘I labored on the boats in Manhattan, I labored in building, I labored within the plumbing enterprise based mostly out of New Rochelle – however principally doing a number of work in Yonkers within the Bronx. I labored cleansing out bars in Queens,’ mentioned Dowling.
After having a storied profession for final forty or so years, his recommendation is to easily outwork the competitors.
‘You do one of the best work you probably can. You deal with folks properly. You’re employed more durable than anyone else. You give it your finest,’ Dowling mentioned. ‘If you type of climb the ladder of life, you don’t know the place the highest rung is.’
One other essential a part of his success, he mentioned, is attending to know as lots of his almost 105,000 staff as he can.
Michael Dowling, chief government at Northwell Well being since 2002, grew up poor in Eire and earlier than his huge success the US
Pictured: Dowling, then a toddler, is seen in entrance of his childhood residence in Knockaderry, Eire
Dowling lived in a thatched-roof home with out operating water (Pictured: A thatched-roof residence in Louisburg, Eire)
He takes employees out to month-to-month dinners and spends every Monday giving a two-hour orientation to new hires.
He even used to stroll the COVID flooring of a Northwell hospital each day throughout the top of the pandemic.
‘This isn’t executed that always by CEOs – though I can inform you that a lot of them at the moment are doing it as a result of they came upon I used to be doing it,’ he mentioned.
These heat welcomes aren’t only for the sake of it, although. Dowling finds that they permit hiring managers to identify staff with awful attitudes.
‘There have been events after I’ve requested staff at orientation to depart,’ he mentioned, including that it is a uncommon incidence.
‘Life is about alternative. It’s not about challenges. …Folks whine an excessive amount of, folks complain an excessive amount of. “Aw, this was a tough day” – it is presupposed to be arduous!’ Dowling mentioned. ‘Recover from it. Suck it up, and cope with it for God’s sake.’
Dowling revealed he has by no means been afraid to roll up his sleeves and work handbook labor jobs.
However he ultimately saved sufficient cash working to place himself by college. He earned a grasp’s diploma in human-services coverage in 1974 from Fordham College.
Pictured: Staten Island College Hospital, a educating hospital inside the Northwell Well being umbrella
Pictured: All of Northwell Well being’s healthcare places which span so far as Australia by strategic alliances
Dowling taught social coverage on the faculty and rose to grow to be an assistant dean of the Jesuit college within the Bronx.
He additionally amassed 12 years of presidency expertise throughout a lot of roles, together with serving as deputy secretary to former Governor Mario Cuomo and New York’s director of Well being, Training and Human Providers.
Following a stint as a a senior vp at Empire Blue Cross Blue Defend, Dowling took an executive-level place in 1995 on the North Shore College Hospital in Manhasset.
That was the start of a historic upward trajectory for the person who began from the underside and climbed his approach up.
Dowling inherited a rising hospital system. 5 years earlier than he took the helm, North Shore College Hospital purchased out a failing hospital in Glen Cove.
He continued this technique regardless that there was loads of skepticism, particularly since he mentioned there have been ‘no well being techniques in existence in any respect on this a part of the nation.’
‘If you received to about 1996, we had about 9 hospitals,’ he mentioned. ‘Most individuals had been taking a look at us and pondering, “What the heck are you doing?”‘
Later that very same 12 months, the corporate, then known as North Shore Well being Techniques, requested a merger with Lengthy Island Jewish Medical Middle in New Hyde Park.
Dowling is pictured giving a speech to the New York Metropolis Police Benevolent Affiliation on April 23, 2020, throughout the top of the COVID-19 pandemic
The 2 hospitals had been rivals, however the actual impediment grew to become the federal authorities, which tried to dam the merger.
‘The Justice Division, I imagine in response to advocacy by the insurance coverage firms, sued us and took us to court docket to forestall the merger,’ Dowling mentioned. ‘It ended up at a two-week court docket trial – and we received.’
By 1997, Northwell had expanded right into a 10-hospital system. These key acquisitions within the Nineties allowed for it to develop into New York Metropolis, Westchester County, and most lately, Connecticut.
Northwell is now seeking to get an even bigger footprint in New Jersey.
‘In the event you’ve traveled for greater than a half an hour and also you don’t see considered one of our places, name us as a result of we’ve received to place one thing in there,’ Dowling mentioned.
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