By Dan Murphy
“We are a lighthouse, a beacon of hope when times get tough in our community,”
SJRH CEO Ron Cort
St. John’s Riverside Hospital kicked off its Riverside Reflections series with a recent interview of SJRH CEO Ron Corti, hosted by SJRH VP of External Affairs Denise Mananas.
Ron Corti has a lifetime of service in health care, starting in 1989 at Yonkers General Hospital. “Jim Foy (Former CEO of St. John’s Riverside Hospital) saw something in me and sent me to Dobbs Ferry. His confidence in me gave me confidence. And when he left, he thought I would be a good replacement.”
Corti has served 24 years as CEO and has presided over a transformation in the delivery of health care to the people of Yonkers and Westchester County.
Corti presided over the merger of Yonkers General Hospital with St. John’s. “Yonkers General was teetering financially and couldn’t stay independent. We found a financial model that worked for both and completed a successful merger.”
Corti was also able to oversee the merger of Dobbs Ferry Hospital into SJRH. “The legislative branch of the state said that Dobbs Ferry Hospital had to close after we had just turned it around. We received great support from the community and Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who said closing would be a tragedy. It was a testament to our ability to rally together, and we kept the hospital alive and completed another merger.”
The merger of St. John’s, Dobbs Ferry, and Yonkers General Hospitals is one of Corti’s outstanding achievements. “We were ahead of our time. We were able to combine the overhead of three hospitals into one.”
What is the need and purpose of a community hospital?
“There is a role for every hospital, big and small. What sets us apart is the connection to the community we serve. And the fact that many of our employees come from the community we serve reduces the anxiety.
“During Hurricane Sandy, the hospital halls were filled with our neighbors who had no electricity for their medical equipment. We are a lighthouse, a beacon of hope when times get tough in our community. If it wasn’t for us, where would they go? They need their local hospital.”
“We had two famous physicians, Dr. Roy Ashikari, a renowned breast surgeon, and Dr. Avram Cooperman, a pancreatic cancer physician. They both said it best: the expertise and technology are great in the big city hospitals, but the care is much better in the local community hospitals. And that is a testament to the nurses at St. John’s and the entire staff.
“It all starts with the staff; we are people taking care of people, and we have to be able to recruit the best people. Our Cochran School of Nursing does a phenomenal job and has a history of producing the best nurses.
“One challenge we found was that we weren’t seeing doctors entering the system in this area. About ten years ago, we decided to produce our own physicians and opened the first internal medicine residency program in our city. And that was followed by the first Emergency Medicine residency program.”
“And now we produce our own physicians. Our goal is to have a supply of the best physicians to meet the needs in the future. Coupled with the best nurses, we now have the ‘A team’.”
Changes in Health Care:
“We have seen an enormous change in health care. When I started, there was no consumerism in health care, but now people have choices and can do their research. We have to show that we have the best physicians, nurses, and quality scores so that people will choose St. John’s.
Since the pandemic, our volume has increased every year, and this year (2024), it is up 10% across the board. People go back and tell their neighbors about us, and that’s how the hospital gets busier and busier.
Emergency Department:
“Our emergency room was built to service 23,000 patients a year, but we are currently servicing about 40,000 patients per year. We see a significant need in that area and will be breaking ground this year on a new emergency room that will more than double our capacity.”
“Typically, ERs don’t have much privacy, but everyone will be separated in our new ED, and combined with our nurses and doctors and views of the Hudson, it will be second to none.”
St. John’s Medical Group:
“As we saw our medical staff aging, we wanted to maintain a robust medical team. In the beginning, we employed six physicians. Now, we have over 40 employed physicians! We have locations in Dobbs Ferry, Hartsdale, the Boyce Thompson building on North Broadway, Yonkers Avenue, and another Yonkers site on North Broadway.
“You can go there for primary care, but specialists can also see you. We are now looking for a site on Central Avenue.”
Clinical Affiliation with Montefiore:
“The power of the big hospitals are the sub-specialists, and for a hospital the size of St. John’s, we don’t produce the volume to acquire all the sub-specialists. Working with our partner, we have access to some of the best physicians in the world.” They rotate between Montefiore and St. John’s and have offices here.
“It gives our community better access to great medical care. Our partnership with Montefiore works well for our community.”
Maternity Services:
“We have the best maternity program. Instead of staying at the Ritz, stay here. We have better views and better staff, and we are growing the program and investing more in OBs. And the nurses are outstanding.”
What is the future of health care:
“What sets hospitals apart are the people. We are embarking on a cultural transformation, where patients want to know… are people nice to me? How long do I have to wait? Are people cordial in answering my questions? Does it smell good?”
“The average person can’t judge clinical care. They can only judge what their senses pick up. We do a good job already, but I want it to be the best.”
“Everybody refers to Disney as the best family vacation. I want people to refer to St. John’s as the best, and I want patients to see something different happening here.
“We have heroic people working here at St. John’s for one reason: to help the people in their community. We want to make people who walk in feel special,” said Corti.
