USHERING A Bright Future FOR OSWEGO HEALTH

New leader looks to build on 142-year-old legacy

By Stefan Yablonsky

Oswego Health is in a great position, according to Michael C. Backus. It has met the challenges facing health care across the board, he said.

“We’ve done that, I think, because of our ability to step in during the pandemic, lead on vaccines, lead on managing patient care — what we are focused on at the end of the day are quality outcomes. That’s a lot of what we’ve worked hard to accomplish,” he said. “That’s the vision I have going forward for Oswego Health.”

Backus joined Oswego Health staff as the chief operating officer and executive vice president. He worked alongside former president Michael Harlovic and other members of the senior leadership team to stabilize the health system.

“He joined Oswego Health in 2020, in the middle of the coronavirus issue,” said Ed Alberts, chairman of Oswego Health board. “This really gave us a chance to see Mike Backus operate. We knew very, very quickly that this was going to be a great opportunity for Oswego Health.

“So, we as a board knew that Mike was the right choice. There are a few times in life when you come across a no-brainer. This falls into that category of no-brainer.”

Backus became president and CEO on Jan. 1, following Harlovic’s retirement.

The transition was positive. Harlovic and Backus had a seamless transition, the new CEO said. Eliminating as many barriers to health care as possible is a major focus of his.

“From the short time that he has been here, he is everything we expected he would be —and more! He’s done a phenomenal job. We couldn’t be more pleased,” Alberts added.

Growth

“There’s a lot of growth that is potentially going to happen in Central New York. I think Oswego Health is very well positioned in this community to step into those spaces and there’s certainly a lot of development in Fulton that people are going to see going forward,” he said. “We’re definitely seeing more patients than we ever have, especially in primary care. We’ll continue to expand that footprint. That’s the growth that I want for this health system.”

Supporting the staff

Backus said his team wants to make sure that staff has the tools and the product at the end of the day to provide the level of care that the community wants.

“The pandemic has had an affect not only on our community as a whole but it has also had an affect on our workforce. We want to make sure that they have those support mechanisms in place — that’s a big part of my vision for this health care system,” Backus said. “As a good community member, we’re making sure that we are standing up for our community, our workforce; those people who live here and work for Oswego Health.”

“We want to make sure that they have the tools with the ability to build upon all the services that they provide; that they are able to take the time they need to collect themselves and be able to come back refreshed and ready to go and take care of our community,” he continued.

More than Oswego Hospital

Oswego Health is 1,200 people or so strong.

“We’re a major employer in the community. We’re not just Oswego Hospital — even though the hospital is a very big sector of our core,” Backus said.

Besides the hospital, the system includes two senior facilities, The Manor at Seneca Hill and Springside at Seneca Hill.

It also operates Oswego Health Home Care as well as two outpatient centers, including the Fulton Medical Center, the Central Square Medical Center and other services.

Behavioral health — there’s such a big need right now, Backus said.

He pointed to Oswego Health’s Lakeview Center for Mental Health and Wellness as a prime example. Since it opened in January 2021, it has served thousands of individuals on an outpatient basis.

“We were blessed at the end of the year last year to receive a charitable contribution from the Lobdell family of Pulaski. Those kinds of resources in the community are so important,” he said. The Lobdell family donated $1 million to the facility, the single largest donation Oswego Health has ever received.

Being able to expand Oswego Health’s primary care footprint is paramount, according to Backus.

“Oswego, the entire community, really, has struggled to have those services available,” he said.

Because of the high demand for primary care services, in July of last year, Oswego Health expanded access to care by opening a third location in Oswego at 33 E. Schuyler St. Oswego Health has four additional primary care locations throughout Oswego County — two in Fulton and in Oswego.

“Some people have gone without a primary care doctor. Making sure people have those resources available so they can go and get those regular check- ups; making sure they can get vaccines, making sure those support networks are available that’s a big focus for us,” he said. “We want to help people get care ahead of time so those more chronic diseases are better managed in real time. I’m very, very proud of the efforts that Oswego Health has taken on.”

Employees recognized

“We have always celebrated our employees. We had an award called the ‘I Care Award’ — a celebration where an employee is celebrated for a great job. It’s important for the community to know about the skilled caregivers that we have throughout the entire health care system,” he explained. “It’s not just the folks that you see, the surgeons, doctors — it’s the people behind the scenes that really do a lot of the blocking and tackling that are so very important to health care.

“Those are the people — dietary, housekeeping, physical therapists — they are all the ones that you don’t always see as critical. But at the end of the day they are the people who really get the job done. And celebrating them with an award, it is so very important, so very impactful for our healthcare system. It creates the culture that we want to have, collaborative with our employees so they know how appreciated they are. Their work is vital.”

“We always focus on making sure that work-life balance is there for our workers. That is a challenge. The workforce has been impacted over the last several years in so many different ways,” Backus said. “I think we have made some really, really good decisions — making sure our wage structure is where it should be, making sure our recruiting tactics are where they should be … offering tuition assistance for those maybe looking to modify their work positions a little bit, looking for different skills or different career path and making sure that we are stepping into some of those spaces where we should be.”

“We have folks who come into our health system in one place, but then they want to transfer somewhere else — we support them all the time,” he added. “We have been very aggressive and very smart in terms of trying to figure out ways to build the workforce and create that collaboration with our team.”

Recruiting

“We’re always trying to attract more registered nurses, LPNs, nurse’s assistants — we’re always out there trying to make sure we are an employer of choice. We’re always looking to add to our workforce,” he said. “Employees want to make sure that they have a good fit, want to make sure that their teammates are there to help them and also want to see support from directors and from everybody in the entire system. That collaboration is so important to us. We want to make sure that we support every aspect of our community. I think that’s one of the things where Oswego Health has done a really good job during the pandemic of stepping in where ap-