Michelle Blakely was not always bound for hospital administration. The new president of Advocate Trinity and Advocate South Suburban Hospitals originally planned to don a white coat.
“From the point that I was a very young person, I always said I was going to be a physician,” Blakely said. “I was going to be an OB/GYN.”
The South Side native was a “science kid” in high school. And she followed her interest as far as a premed track in college. But there was one problem.
“I’m squeamish,” Blakely said. “It took me till my freshman year in college to come to terms with the fact that this probably wasn’t going to happen.”
After encountering giant insects, live rats and jumping frogs on lab tables at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she decided to draw the line.
“The cockroach really did me in, because I don’t like bugs,” she said. “That really messed me up.”
Blakely never thought about leaving health care all together; she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology. But a friend in med school asked if she ever thought about hospital administration. Blakely researched it and discovered a great fit. So she found the best school in the country for it, which at the time was the University of Michigan.
“I landed there and I haven’t looked back,” Blakely said. “That was just a random conversation that exposed me to a career that turned out to be perfect for me.”
She earned a master’s degree in Health Services Administration from Michigan and a Ph.D. in organizational leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Blakely’s career took her around the Midwest, including stops as chief operating officer at Norwegian American Hospital, as well as chief operating officer and associate medical center director for the Department of Veterans Affairs at Jesse Brown Medical Center, both in Chicago. She most recently worked as president of Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin.
“All the time, you’re adding value, but you’re adding value for someone else’s community,” Blakely said. “It’s not home. When you get a chance to do it at home, it’s special.”
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Blakely, who bought her first house in Hazel Crest and has lived in Flossmoor for two decades now, is finally getting that chance to oversee the health care of communities she considers her own. In October, she assumed the role of president for Advocate Trinity Hospital in Chicago and South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest. While she had to learn the culture and community and politics in previous roles, she immediately knows what is being discussed in the Southland. That also creates an added sense of obligation.
“I want to do it right for my community,” Blakely said. “When it’s your family, it’s just special.”
Blakely replaces Rashard Johnson, who she said did a “phenomenal job” navigating COVID-19, which tossed out the agendas of many health care leaders. He still oversaw the completion of a construction project at South Suburban Hospital to open a new Center for Advanced Care and kept the quality of care high, Blakely said.
“To do that in the midst of everything else is noteworthy,” she said.
As Blakely starts her journey as president, she faces a new phase of COVID-19. It has moved from pandemic to endemic, which means the virus is expected to stick around in some form. The health care industry must continue to live with and manage it. But it must do so with a disrupted workforce while also addressing national health inequities that have been highlighted in recent years, Blakely said.
“I think we’re redefining what normal is now in health care,” she said. “What COVID did for our country is to highlight some of the challenges of the health care system, and we will forever live with the fact that there is a new spotlight on health care as it relates to that.”
Blakely said she is proud of the company’s participation in the South Side Health Communities Organization. Advocate Aurora is also a partner with the University of Chicago and others in looking at and addressing the challenges of underserved communities in the Chicago area. Blakely is looking forward to tackling those challenges. That bigger picture is what attracted her to hospital administration in the first place.
“As an individual practitioner, you touch a patient at a time, and you’re able to help people live better … because of your clinical intervention,” Blakely said. “The way I look at the role of a hospital administrator is: Every time I make a decision, I’m impacting every patient in the community that I serve who chooses my hospital and every team member who brings their professionalism to my organization. My reach is much broader as an administrator, and I love that I have that ability.”
Blakely said her ultimate goal is to make sure Advocate Trinity and Advocate South Suburban Hospitals are both the health care provider and employer of choice in the area. They already have an “amazing medical staff” and offer high-quality care to patients, she said. In her leadership role, she hopes to continue making them “destination sites” for health care in her community.
“It is exciting — this notion of real gratification,” Blakely said. “I believe everything’s in divine order. I’m always looking out for: How did I land in a place? And this feels like a gift. It’s a gift to me to have had such a long career as a health care administrator and then to find myself in a position to serve the very community where I live and where I grew up. It’s quite gratifying and fun.”
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.