FROM VOLUNTEER TO HEALTH CENTER PRESIDENT
Lindsay Farrell
It was 1984 and Lindsay Farrell, a young mother recently arrived from New York City, was looking for reasons to get out of her large, drafty house in Ossining. This is when, as a new member of the local Junior League, she began hearing about the important work being done by a local health center.
So, she became a volunteer for that organization. With her young daughter in tow, strapped into a car seat in the back of their blue Peugeot wagon, Farrell began shepherding elderly patients for their medical care from their senior care living facility to the nearby Ossining Open Door.
Only a dozen years from its beginnings as a free clinic in the basement of the Baptist church and later a refurbished department store, Open Door still functioned largely as a shoestring operation, employing a staff of about 30. Only five years before, it had hired its first full-time physician.
Yet, the work it was doing was incredibly important, Farrell remembers. She found the passion shared by its staff contagious. Ossining Open Door, after all, offered a lifeline to those in the community – the elderly, the poor, recent immigrants – who could least afford quality health care, living in a Westchester Village that only a decade earlier had erupted in racial strife.
Two years later after beginning her relationship with Open Door as a volunteer, Farrell interviewed with the founder, Marge Griesmer, for a salaried job. She wore a maternity dress to the interview, as she was nearly nine months pregnant,
Griesmer apparently saw something in Farrell that the Philadelphia native, admittedly, didn’t see in herself. She saw her passion. Her ability to see the big picture. Her willingness to learn and grow. And her love for the organization. She offered her the job. Farrell started several weeks later, after giving birth to her son.
Farrell quickly worked her way up the ladder, eventually becoming Director of Development, responsible for writing grants and soliciting private donations, and then Director of Operations. She asked questions. Saw how other successful health centers worked. Returned to school for an MBA. In 1998, upon Griesmer’s retirement, Open Door’s Board of Directors chose her to become the organization’s second (and, it would turn out to date, only other) President and CEO.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to be a healthcare executive,” she says. “What did I know about Joint Commission accreditation? Infection control? I was a French major for crying out loud. Marge knew I was very passionate and that I loved the organization, but, you know, she handed her legacy off to me. I’ll always be incredibly grateful to her.”
Fast forward 40 years. Working in Open Door’s corporate office in Tarrytown, staff members recently directed Farrell to the staff kitchen, surprising her with a cake and flowers to mark her milestone. The celebration was emotional and the gesture reduced her to tears. At Open Door’s recent gala, with more than 300 supporters in attendance, a standing ovation acknowledged her 40th anniversary.
After all, it’s been a truly remarkable run. She was the surprise in the crackerjack box. The underdog no one saw coming. The posterchild for all those who may not have the pedigree or the resume, but somehow because of their smarts, wits and moxie, climb the highest heights.
Under Farrell’s direction, Open Door (now known as the Open Door Care Network) has grown to a staff of 650 with more than 60,000 patient visits annually at its multiple locations throughout the Lower Hudson Valley (with medical sites in Sleepy Hollow, Port Chester, Mt Kisco, Mamaroneck, and Brewster, a dental site in Saugerties and nine school-based health centers at schools in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties). Its staffers reflect the patients they serve – many come from elsewhere, or their families did – and, in many cases, have personally used the services offered by Open Door. Farrell routinely encourages staff, as she has, to be all they can be. This has, perhaps not surprisingly, included a number of those who now comprise her senior staff.
Over the years, Open Door has seen the addition of wrap-around services and enriched dental and behavioral services (most recently supported by the recent addition of Family Services of Westchester), as well as the advent of ophthalmic, podiatric, women’s, early childhood, and wellness services. The one constant, says Farrell, has always been the focus on patient-centric care.
This has required a good amount of change management. “I remember years ago learning that we wouldn’t do pap smears after 4 p.m. ‘What do you mean we don’t do pap smears after 4 p.m.?’ I was so shocked because obviously I’m a woman, I’m a mom and I work full time. You expect people to leave their job in the middle of the day? Yes, we made some changes.”
The work of Open Door and Farrell’s leadership have not gone unnoticed. The organization has been recognized multiple times for its excellent performance and its innovative approach and Farrell has often been cited for her leadership. She routinely makes most powerful women and top health executive lists, and sits on a number of boards.
Of course, running an organization like Open Door has not come without its challenges – headcount reductions when money became tight; lack of alignment impacting financial performance; gaining agreement on strategy; the pandemic. And, most recently, significant reductions in Medicaid reimbursement and cuts to government funding for federally qualified health centers like Open Door.
She’s managed to overcame these obstacles, just as she has in her personal life. Learning 15 years ago at an employee health fair that her blood pressure was high, she didn’t just look to lose a few pounds or take a spin class or two. Instead, she began training to become an Ironman triathlete, today competing in competitions around the world. She credits her training to providing greater structure in her life, improving her well-being, and helping her better manage the demands of leadership and family life.
Forty years after first becoming involved with Open Door, Farrell remains optimistic about both the future of the organization and of health centers in general.
“We’re so good at what we do in going beyond the medical model and so trusted in the community, so yes, I think the model is here to stay. We’re primary care docs and general dentists, and offer comprehensive wraparound services, including enhanced behavioral services. We sit at the intersection of private practice and public health and our job is making sure that everyone in our community can live robust, productive lives and take care of their families. Sure, there will be challenges, but come on, we’ve been here in 60 years, and we’ve proven our worth.”
As for herself, she plans to retire in two years. Her intent is to spend more time with her family, including two-year-old granddaughter, Alondra (or "Alo" for short). Traveling to do this will be far shorter than the journey she's taken over the past 40 years. Alo lives next door.