Receiving the top award for career achievement in the Providence Business News’ 2008 Business Women recognition program is a decidedly mixed blessing for Constance A. Howes, president and CEO of Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.
She’s happy for the hospital, but mortified by all the attention on herself.
“I cannot stress enough how uncomfortable I am with individual recognition for myself,” she said in a recent interview, “because this is a team effort. The only reason I agreed to do this is to benefit the reputation of Women & Infants Hospital and what we do here.”
Since October of 2002, the 55-year-old Howes, a Providence resident, has been in charge of Women & Infants, one of the few free-standing hospitals in the United States devoted to the care of women and babies, and the seventh-largest obstetrical service in the nation. She oversees more than 3,000 hospital employees, including approximately 500 physicians. “This is really the achievement of the team of people here,” she said of the award. “We are blessed with a group of exceptionally committed management leaders, physicians and employees. Working in health care for women and infants attracts a very special kind of person.”
The communications and public relations people at the hospital convinced her to apply for the award and they filled out the application, which she later reviewed. “I don’t like seeking the limelight for me. I’m just not into the ego-thing,” she said.
Her attitude came as no surprise to colleague Dr. Joseph Amaral, retired president and CEO of Rhode Island Hospital. “She’s a very humble person,” he said. “She works very hard, she’s very caring and compassionate.”
“Ms. Howes has demonstrated the tenacity, business acumen and compassion it takes to realize success,” her application says, and goes on to cite these impressive accomplishments:
• She continued a discipline of fiscal responsibility to realize an $8.9 million positive result (surplus) from operations in fiscal year 2007;
• She earned state backing for a five-story $76.8 million addition to the hospital, set to open in the summer of 2009, that will include a state-of-the-art, two-story neonatal intensive care unit that will give each family a private room, and additional beds for at-risk obstetrics patients.
• To finance the new building, she has overseen a capital campaign that not only generated $20 million in corporate and public donations and increased the donor base, but also saw “her own employees” pledge more than $1.3 million in support.
• She has enjoyed strong patient satisfaction scores. In 12 of the last 13 quarters, the hospital has earned above the 90th percentile in overall patient satisfaction in the majority of categories when compared with approximately 900 hospitals nationwide.
In spite of her personal modesty, Howes is no shrinking violet. Unlike the offices of many CEOs, ensconced in private quarters far from the rank and file, Howes’ office is on the first floor, easily accessible right off the lobby. It’s small and plainly furnished in the style of a mid-level manager. Right outside her windows, visitors, families and patients come and go, milling about in controlled chaos at the hospital entrance.
“Sometimes they knock on the window,” Howes said good-naturedly of the people outside. “It’s all part of being accessible. It really helps to ground me to see the patients and the people coming here.”
“It is a privilege,” she said, “to be with people at the most intimate moments of their lives, whether it be the birth of an infant or the death of a patient and everything in between.”
When Howes talks about hospital finances, an edge develops in her voice as it tightens. While hospitals struggle financially, at Women & Infants “we have this discipline, where we make sure we have a positive margin,” she said. “We have taken a lot of steps to be as efficient as we can be. It is not always easy, it is not always pleasant, but it is necessary.”
Howes is especially proud of the neonatal intensive care unit in the addition under construction. The unit will have individual rooms for the family of each critically ill baby, she said, a quiet private place where the family can control their own environment, decide how much heat or how many lights to have on. Devastated families “will be able to adjust better and the babies will be better able to mature,” Howes said. The neonatal ICU will have a capacity of 80 babies per day. About 1,200 critically ill babies are treated each year at the Providence hospital and, Howes noted, Women & Infants is the regional treatment center for babies needing a high level of care, encompassing Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut.
Amaral praised her for recognizing the needs of the community and pushing for construction of the neonatal unit. He recalled working closely with her to improve the relationship between Rhode Island Hospital and Women & Infants. “She recognized the value of the two institutions working closer together,” he said.
She still does. She stressed during a recent interview the importance of the proposed merger between Lifespan, to which Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital belong, and Care New England, to which Women & Infants belongs.
“It is essential for us to be part of a financially stable system that has important academic affiliations and recognizes the role of Women & Infants,” she said. She says the proposed merger makes great sense for Women & Infants because the hospital already works closely with Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital. •
