Healthy outlook | Health Care: Kris Doody, CEO, Cary Medical Center
Photo/Joe Phelan
Kris Doody, CEO of Cary Medical Center in Caribou, has helped double the hospital's revenue to roughly $100 million since taking over as CEO in 1999
It's not an exaggeration to say Cary Medical Center is in Kris Doody's DNA.
The Caribou native was born at the hospital. She volunteered there as a candy striper at the age of 15 and worked there as a nurse's aide while pursuing a nursing degree at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where she graduated in 1983. After college, she went to work at the hospital as a full-time nurse and hasn't left since.
After a steady climb up the ranks, Doody, 46, was named CEO of Cary Medical Center in 1999. In 10 years, while juggling pressures ranging from lagging Medicare reimbursements to attracting physicians to Aroostook County, Doody has led the hospital's growth from $46 million in revenues to a projected $100 million this year.
Her greatest achievement, however, has been assembling a "superb team" that focuses on quality. "We were measuring and reporting quality data before public accountability was on the radar screen," Doody says. "If you look at our hospital in comparison with other hospitals in Maine and across the nation, our hospital performs exceptionally well in quality of care. I think that's very important because that's what we're all about. We exist to take care of patients in the best way we can according to evidence-based medicine."
A career in health care was a no-brainer for Doody. "I never had that moment in high school when I wondered what I wanted to do," she says. "I was always going to go into health care and start in nursing."
As an administrator, Doody could easily leave nursing behind. But she hasn't. She maintains her nurse's license and still reads all the nursing journals she's read for the past three decades. She signs her name with an "RN." And she still corrects people when they call her a "former nurse." In fact, it's not unusual to find Doody in her scrubs (which she keeps in her office) inserting an IV or doling out patient medications when Cary nurses are swamped. "I miss it terribly," she says. "But the reality is my current role as an administrator requires me to do a number of other things that are a priority."
One thing Doody has never stopped doing is learning. Besides a nursing degree, Doody has various graduate degrees and certifications from institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania and Husson University. Now she's thinking of getting her doctorate, though she's not sure in what field. "The work never ends," she says.
Doody is also very involved outside the hospital. She recently became chair of the Maine Hospital Association Board of Directors and is vice chair of the Maine Community College System Board of Trustees.
Some wonder when Doody has time to sleep. She shrugs off the question. "Growing up, I was taught by my mom and dad to give back to the community that gives to you," says Doody.
Being so busy presents Doody with her greatest challenge: how to balance life and work. She tries to "strike a balance" among the competing priorities by spending time with her family and on hobbies such as golf ("though my game is terrible") and riding her Harley-Davidson motorcycle ("I'm a lifetime member of the Harley-Davidson Owners Group").
"I think I handle it well," she says, then pauses, "though some people don't think I do."
Her parents, who still live in the house in Caribou where Doody grew up, says her work days are too long. This she finds ironic. "Don't blame it on me," she tells them. "You taught me well."
Whit Richardson
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