2008 Idaho Conference on Health Care
Jacquelyn Gaines, M.S., B.S.N
Presentation Title: “The Challenges of Diversity in Health Care”
Jacquelyn Gaines has dedicated most of her 30 year career to the advancement of quality health care programs throughout the United States, particularly those focused on the care of the poor and underserved. She has worked in a variety of roles, starting her career as a nurse working for Johns Hopkins Health Institutions.
She moved through management, health education, and program coordination at Johns Hopkins before returning to graduate school at University of Maryland where she received a dual master’s degree in Primary Care and Health Care Administration. Upon graduation she went to work for Health Care for the Homeless, Inc in Baltimore, Maryland as a Nurse Practitioner serving over 50,000 vulnerable patients per year in clinics, shelters and the streets. In 1987, she was appointed as its first President and CEO and developed this organization over her 13 year tenure into a national model in health care delivery for vulnerable people. As a result of her expertise in this field, Jackie has consulted all over the United States for the U.S. Public Health Services in program development, evaluation, governance, community collaboration, public policy, advocacy and fundraising.
In 1999, Jackie returned to a hospital-based delivery system when she was appointed as the Vice President of Community Health Systems Integration for Bon Secours Baltimore Health System. There Jackie led an effective $15 million turn-around initiative called Transformation 2000, decreasing that organization’s deficit to break even over a 2 year period.
In the summer of 2000 Jackie was recruited to join the Providence Health System family in Oregon where she was the Chief Executive for Providence Milwaukie Hospital and Regional Chief Executive for Ancillary Business lines across all seven Providence hospitals in Oregon, including: radiology, laboratories and pathology, pharmacies, respiratory therapy, sleep labs and the Center on Aging. During her seven year tenure at Providence, Jackie took Providence Milwaukie to Top 100 Hospital in the U.S. three times and implemented the organization’s Family Practice Residency Program and raised millions of dollars to support expanded services for the community. In this role Jackie was the first minority female to run a hospital in the Oregon’s history and nicknamed a “real Portland Trailblazer”.
In 2007 Jackie left Providence to become the President and CEO of Mercy Health Partners for Northeast Pennsylvania, where she had oversight for two hospitals and 15 other freestanding clinics and diagnostic centers. This too broke all historic records for Pennsylvania as a woman and person of color ever serving in this role. For the country there are less than 5 minority women running health systems out of over 6,000 hospitals.
Jackie travels all over the country telling her story and the lessons learned throughout her career and has received numerous awards along the way. She also continues to give back to the community by serving on numerous boards and task forces no matter where she has lived or worked. Prior to moving to Pennsylvania, Jackie was the first minority and woman to serve as the Campaign Chair for the United Way of the Columbia Willamette raising over $88 million. It would not be unusual to see Jackie walking the halls of our nation’s capital buildings advocating for health care access for all.
In a controversial move based on racial and sexist injustices, Jackie made a decision to step down after serving as Mercy’s President and CEO for only nine months. She has taken the time since then to write and publish her first book, “Believing You Can Fly,” which offers insight to her career journey in an attempt to inspire others to pursue their dreams against what may seem to be insurmountable odds. The next chapter in her career journey has yet to unfold.
Jackie is a mother of two adult daughters and has been married for 31 years.