by Nick Jacobs

Tony asked me what I would miss as a hospital CEO? Let me begin by saying that I left teaching at age 31, and thirty years later I still very much miss the interaction with the students. Just yesterday, I received another E-mail from a 50ish year old IT executive telling me that my teaching had been one of the greatest influences on his life. That was the third similar E-mail that I had received in the last five months from that work of 30 years ago.

From teaching I miss helping the students find themselves, teaching them to fly, and saving those borderline kids who were hanging by a thread. My life as a teacher was completely built around being a care-giver and a mentor.

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In arts management, I missed the explosions of creativity, the wonderful work, and the incredible expressions of life that came from the minds of those individuals who had dedicated their lives to creating beauty, to challenging our senses, and to depicting our surroundings through the windows of their souls.

As the president of a convention and visitors bureau, I simply missed the fun. It was a life that dealt with helping people fulfill their dreams of excitement, exploration, or easy relaxation. Sure, it took politics, creativity, marketing savvy, and aggressive management to meet the ever expanding challenges of this industry, but it was all about creating life-time memories and FUN.

Upon entering health care management at the age of 40, the burden of a litigious life and death environment came crashing in on me. It was NOT fun. It was NOT as fulfilling in many ways as teaching because there was no real direct contact for me with those for whom we were providing care.

So, what will I miss as a hospital CEO? It will be the wonderful things that we did for Barbs, Sue, Joe, Jake, and dozens of other friends, relatives and neighbors. In some cases we were literally able to have a great influence on saving their lives. Barbs had chest discomfort. Her husband called me at home. My call to a cardiologist friend resulted in an almost instant cath and the opening of a 99% blockage that prevented her from having a heart attack or worse. Frank called to say that his wife was feeling dizzy. We dispatched our paramedics to arrive in time to have TPA begun and to interrupt a stroke before any damage had taken place. Jake’s mom called and said that his feet and hands were swelling, and that he was having trouble breathing. Without hesitation, we made room for the five year old in our emergency department in time to get him the necessary medication to reverse the allergic reaction that most surely could have taken his life. Finally, Liz experienced a blinding headache and within minutes our physicians diagnosed an aneurysm which was successfully operated on and controlled without any negative after affects.

How does one replace these feelings? By continuing to teach every way that you can; by continuing to help every time that you can; and continuing to care as much as you can for as long as you can. That will become my personal mission statement in my new life as a consultant.