For those who didn’t know her, Ruth Rothstein was an original. Ruth started her career in healthcare when she took a job as a laboratory technician at Jackson Park Hospital in Chicago in 1952. She had earlier been a labor organizer. Later, after taking a position as an assistant to the general director of operations at Mount Sinai in 1966, she worked her way up through the ranks to eventually become president and CEO of the hospital in 1977. She held that position until 1991 when she was named chief of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, now known as Cook County Health and Hospital System, at a time when it was viewed by many as a place that offered little in the way of quality care. She would turn the outdated public health system in Chicago into one of the country’s leading models, and was considered a major figure among public hospital leaders. She oversaw the construction of a new county hospital facility as well as the creation of the Ruth Rothstein CORE Center, a clinic that works toward prevention, care and research involving HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.
She “retired” in 2004 but kept working right up to her death, most recently presiding as chairwoman of the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, Ill.
All of that is important, but it’s a resume, not who she was. She was a gem unlike anyone else I have ever met. Like a gem, she was a tough nut. When she thought something needed to happen, she was not to be deterred. If someone questioned a plan she had, she would run that person over with data and sheer force of will, often with some salty words thrown in.
This toughness, however, was all in service to Cook County’s low-income and uninsured patients. At Mount Sinai, she integrated the hospital into local community and served as a bridge to the Latino and African-American communities.
This news about Ruth has hit me hard. I so admired her for her courage, her character, her values, her intellect, her street smarts and her unwillingness to give in.
This is something that could not happen today, but Ruth never went to college, let alone had a graduate degree, and wound up running two important safety-net health systems. She couldn’t have cared less about money, in stark contrast to so many in healthcare today. And to her, power was only important in service to helping the disadvantaged or fixing Cook County Hospital’s many problems.
Just as she was “retiring” in 2004, I had the distinct honor and privilege of inducting Ruth Rothstein into Modern Healthcare’s Health Care Hall of Fame.
Every time I would see or meet with Ruth she would give me a hug and tell me how much she enjoyed seeing me. I will miss those hugs and I will remember forever what a gallant and selfless individual she was. Ruth Rothstein was very special, and her legacy will live forever.
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