We interviewed Glenn Focht, MD, President of Anna Jaques Hospital, to learn more about him, talk about the wonderful community surrounding the hospital, and explore how philanthropy makes exciting advances at Anna Jaques possible.
What first attracted you to the medical profession?
I knew that I wanted to be a physician starting when I was three years old. I was stung by a group of hornets while playing outdoors, and I developed anaphylaxis. It was quite stressful, but I remember waking up the next day at my local community hospital feeling much better—thanks to the physician who looked after me. Right then is when I knew. It was such a gift to have clarity about what I wanted to do from that age onward because I was able to connect with people and receive support with a firm goal in mind.
What other roles and experiences prepared you for your current role as President of Anna Jaques Hospital?
My first and most foundational role is being a family member and someone who grew up in a household with a loved one who was greatly impacted both physically and mentally by the healthcare they received. Having empathy and an understanding of a lifelong healthcare journey informs every decision I make to this day. I’ve done work in safety and quality for hospitals and spent much time working to integrate behavioral health with physical care because I believe they are inseparable.
I worked for several healthcare organizations including Boston Children’s Hospital, serving as Chief Medical Officer, where I was responsible for improving the quality of care for hundreds of thousands of children across the Commonwealth. In each of my prior roles, I’ve leveraged my personal experiences and my skills as a physician to understand the steps that need to be taken to provide safer, better healthcare. Through all these experiences, I have learned how important it is to engage with patients, families, staff, and physicians to create safer, more reliable care.
What makes Anna Jaques so special? Can you characterize the culture at the hospital and in the Newburyport community?
Anna Jaques has a unique culture that is informed and based upon authentic, foundational relationships. Across our community, we strive to be a place where people always feel welcomed, respected, and cared for. As we celebrate the hospital’s 140th anniversary, I am reminded that this culture stems from Anna Jaques herself, the founder of the hospital, who was very progressive and wanted to improve healthcare delivered to the people of the North Shore. She used her own resources to build this hospital as a way to take care of the community. To this day, we want our community to feel like we are neighbors caring for neighbors.
As a recently appointed President, can you share some of your observations about the hospital staff, leadership, and donors? Also, could you speak to some of the strategic goals for the hospital?
My role as President at Anna Jaques has given me a new set of lenses with which to see the incredible hospital and community we have here. I have the opportunity to continue to reach deeper into our communities and form relationships on a wider scale. We also have an enormous commitment as the largest employer in the Newburyport area. There are so many people who are passionate about Anna Jaques, and I love hearing stories of the hospital playing a role in forming families—it’s truly an honor that we can be the place where people are born and then continue to come for their care.
This builds into our strategy of being an individual’s or family’s local care institution, while also acting as a point of entry for people to receive specialty care from our colleagues across Beth Israel Lahey Health. We are here to be a source of information, provide introductions to our colleagues across the system if need be, and remain a “home base” in the care journey. On top of that, I want to continue to spread the word about how dynamic Anna Jaques is as an institution and how we are continuing to grow while bringing about improved patient outcomes.
Strategically recruiting, retaining, and supporting primary care providers is another way Anna Jaques continues to create an environment where we support each other, our patients, and our community. As a former primary care physician, it’s heartening to be a president of a community hospital in a system that emphasizes the importance of keeping care close to home.
Can you speak to the importance of philanthropy in helping Anna Jaques fulfill its mission?
Anna Jaques was founded with a wonderful, powerful act of philanthropy, and it’s impossible to overstate its importance. Philanthropy is essential to helping us continue to invest in people, both staff and community, and our services, so that we can continue to relentlessly pursue the high-quality, high-safety care that everyone wants for themselves and their family members. It provides us the opportunity to access leading-edge technology that jumpstarts novel programs to treat our growing patient population. It allows us to offer new procedures to Newburyport and the surrounding area so people can remain here to receive care.
All these things become possible with philanthropic support, and it builds the momentum to continue to make a difference in people’s lives. I am passionate about all the work being done at Anna Jaques, and I am so thankful to everyone who supports us with their gifts so that we can better ensure the health and safety of our community.
