AKRON, Ohio — Northeast Ohio is blessed with world-class health care systems with national recognition -- including Akron Children's Hospital -- which is one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the U.S. It's also ranked 22nd out of 200 among the best pediatric hospitals worldwide by Newsweek.
The playing field is only getting better with our latest Game Changer leading the way -- Chris Gessner is only the 4th President and CEO of Akron Children’s Hospital since 1944.
"The shoes are so big that I don't even try to fill, so I don't really feel pressure. I sort of decided I just need to be me,” Gessner told 3News anchor Dave Chudowsky in a recent interview.
Since taking the job in October of 2021, being himself seems to be a great idea. He's held previous CEO roles at multiple hospitals, most recently at UC Health’s University of Colorado Hospital and before that, at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
His motivating force?
“I always like to think about parents who trust their care to us every day," he said. "That's a significant leap that they're making to say, we know you're going to provide world-class care to our kids here. You go take over and make sure they do well.”
And many parents do travel here for their child’s needs. While other hospitals care for all ages, Akron Children’s has a focus.
"The bulk of our patient volume is probably 12 and under, but there's a lot of need in the teenage population and young adult population," Gessner said.
That’s an age group often overlooked in healthcare because, fortunately, most of them are well, but Gessner emphasizes that behavioral health problems are on the rise, and Akron Children’s is now opening new facilities in Mansfield and Canton to help meet the need.
"Behavioral health is a pediatric disease,” Gessner said. "It was increasing pre-pandemic and then accelerated during the pandemic and has never looked back...there's not too many hospitals in the country that would open up two behavioral health centers in the same summer in order to respond to the unmet needs that are out there."
And in order to help, Gessner says they’re continuing to focus on outpatient services by expanding centers all over Northeast Ohio
"I think it's all about access to pediatric healthcare. The other centers might have trouble filling that void because having pediatric specialists is a real challenge. There's a shortage of them. So I think if we can meet that access need, that's our role in Northeast Ohio."
And in addition to expanding, Gessner says healthcare systems must continue to evolve.
"I think [healthcare has] changed and continues to change, evolving as we speak in healthcare, but people want convenience, close to home. Access to care is really critical. When you think of our customer base, a lot of them are Gen Z parents, and most of them really disdain making phone calls. They enjoy the app on the phone."
Gessner makes it clear, he believes the future of the industry is in automation.
"I really believe that in five years, 60, 70, 80% of our appointments will be scheduled online. So we really started moving in that direction and really proud of the work our primary care pediatric offices did."
But there are still current challenges to face. Akron Children’s, like most hospitals, is still dealing with staff shortages -- which has led Gessner to think big.
"We see automation as a huge part of what we're trying to accomplish here to improve quality service, enable our staff to be more productive and effective," he said. "It frees up people, if you will, at a time when we're short staffed and finding it hard to keep certain services open as much as we used to."
And he’s open for more change in the future.
"We're trying to find ways to help our nurses provide care more effectively and have them practice at top of license and sort of shed remedial documentation tasks, and we think that division of labor and use of technology may create a better work environment for nurses, improve quality, allow us to monitor the patient's progress and making sure they're staying on evidence-based pathways."
As a student, Gessner played football for the college of William and Mary. And a culture of teamwork is something he wants to continue to celebrate at Akron Children’s.
"The first time I walked in, I could feel it. There's a team spirit here. There's the feeling that they're not going to let each other fail. They're going to support each other, and they're rallying around the cause, and they feel very dedicated and committed to that, taking care of our kids, providing world class care to our kids."
