43
Valley man works his way up from orderly to hospital CE0
Photo
Mahoning Valley Hospital in Boardman.
Photo
Jerri Nastase, a unit secretary at Mahoning Valley Hospital in Boardman at work near telemetry monitors in the hospital.
Photo
OPENING REMARKS: Michael Senchak, CEO of the Mahoning Valley Hospital, attributed the success of the building and completion of the new hospital to three groups — employees, physicians and the board of trustees.
Michael Senchak oversaw the growth of Mahoning Valley Hospital; he’s now organizing its foundation.
Michael S. Senchak rose from milling machine operator and hospital orderly to hospital president and chief executive officer, and accomplished it all without leaving the Mahoning Valley.
“I’m just a local guy who made a commitment to stay local and did the right thing in the community,” said Senchak, former president and CEO of the Mahoning Valley Hospital.
Reared on Youngstown’s lower West Side, Senchak, a 1970 graduate of Ursuline High School, was working as a machine apprentice at Wean United when he was laid off in 1974.
Still looking for work 18 months later, he took a job as an orderly in April 1976 at St. Elizabeth Hospital, a move that changed his life but not his residence.
In 1999, he was named president and CEO of Mahoning Valley Hospital, which was just an idea at the time. He was given the task of starting the long-term, acute-care hospital .
He is quick to point out, however, that he had a lot of help along the way — and some good luck.
“You need to be in the right place at the right time. You need to work hard and have people who believe in you. Without the wonderful hospital board, physicians and employees, without a great community resource like Youngstown State University, it wouldn’t have happened,” Senchak said.
When he became an orderly at St. Elizabeth, he found he liked patient care, and when Wean called him back, he declined.
In just more than two decades, he rose through the ranks to become head nurse and then vice president and chief administrative officer at St. Elizabeth; and finally, vice president of shared and support services for Humility of Mary Health Partners, St. Elizabeth’s parent company.
During those years, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, an associate in applied science degree in nursing and a master of business degree, all from YSU.
Mahoning Valley Hospital, a long-term, acute-care facility, was first located in the Oak Hill Renaissance Building, the former South Side Hospital. The hospital soon expanded into leased space at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren. And, when MVH was forced to move from Oak Hill Renaissance, because the building owners went bankrupt, Senchak oversaw, from 2005 to 2008, the planning and construction of the 28-bed, $9.2 million Mahoning Valley Hospital in Boardman.
After the sale of MVH to Progressive Healthcare in 2008, he was hired by the former board of MVH to complete the paperwork associated with the sale of the nonprofit MVA to the for-profit Progressive. He is also developing the Mahoning Valley Hospital Foundation, which will distribute the proceeds from the sale to various organizations in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties.
Mahoning Valley Hospital was started in 1999 with a $2.1 million loan, rented space and used equipment, Senchak said.
“With the efforts of a wonderful board and the late Dr. John Politis, we expanded in 2003 and retired our debt in 2005,” he said.
Forced to look for new quarters in 2006, MVH temporarily leased 15 beds from Greenbriar Rehabilitation Hospital in Boardman while its board searched for property on which to locate the new hospital. Ground was broken in 2007 at 8049 South Ave., also in Boardman.
Senchak said he expects to wrap up the MVH sale paperwork, and have the MVH Foundation established by the end of 2009.
The foundation’s mission is to distribute proceeds from the sale of MVH to Progressive to nonprofit organizations that focus on improving and enhancing health- care initiatives. He said it will not be known exactly how much money the foundation will have until the paperwork is concluded. However, Senchak said, it will be substantial.
Health-care initiatives the board is considering for grants include healthy living, lifestyle and drug and alcohol education in elementary schools; geriatric care and health screening; pulmonary education and screening; and filling gaps caused by state budget shortfalls in organizations that provide health and humans services.
Now, no longer in charge of a hospital, Senchak, at 56, is at a new crossroads in his life.
He is working out of an office in his Canfield home, where he lives with his wife, Jeanne, a counselor for Austintown schools. The couple has two children, Kimberly Berg and Michael R., both of Poland. His parents are Michael T. and Mary Lou of Youngstown.
For the past three years, he said he worked seven days a week and a lot of hours to make MVH a reality.
“That we succeeded gives me a lot of inner satisfaction,” he said.
“But, the thing that I am most proud of is that for 91‚Ñ2 years Mahoning Valley Hospital provided quality patient care to residents of the Mahoning Valley,” he said.
Senchak said his plans include a less-hectic schedule, but he plans to take time over the rest of the year and decide what’s next for him.
He didn’t say anything about going back to playing piano and trumpet, which he did for Angelo Lacivita’s Big Band and the Second Time Around.
But, he didn’t rule out getting involved in another large project.
“I want to be very deliberate about my decision ... something tells me I’m not done yet,” he said.