New McLaren Northern Michigan CEO talks hometown and health care

PETOSKEY — As a Petoskey native, Gar Atchison jumped at the chance to come home when he was offered the position of McLaren Northern Michigan Healthcare’s new CEO and president last fall.

With decades of experience in health care leadership that has taken him across the country, Atchison had most recently found himself happily employed in Marquette as the UP Health System CEO. The opportunity in Petoskey, however, was something he couldn’t turn down.

More: McLaren Northern Michigan names Gar Atchison as next CEO

“I grew up in Petoskey. This is my hometown. My kids were both born at this hospital and my mother still lives here,” Atchison said. “When I accepted the position, it made my mom very happy.”

McLaren Northern Michigan is a 202-bed regional referral center located in Petoskey, serving residents in 22 counties across northern Lower Michigan and the eastern part of the Upper Peninsula. More than 230 physicians represent nearly all medical and surgical specialties, enabling full-service care with an emphasis on cardiology, cancer, orthopedics and neurosciences.

Community outreach is high on Atchison's agenda as the new CEO.

"I’ve been meeting with a lot of community leaders — business leaders, chamber leaders — and getting a flavor for what needs to be done here as far as positioning the hospital as part of the community," he said. "In another month or so when more people return to the area, I will be reaching out to all of the service clubs — Rotary, Kiwanis — and putting together a presentation on what this hospital is, what we do and also what we mean to the community both from a health care aspect but there is also the importance of this hospital to the economics of Northern Michigan."

Atchison noted that the local hospital is commonly one of the largest employers in any given community.

"This is not just a health care facility, this a very large and important business in the community," he said.

Atchison said the most important part of his position as the health care system’s lead administrator is the people, including the people in the community who are helped by McLaren’s health care services and the people who are part of the McLaren system.

“This is really a people business. There is no magic to health care that isn’t really about people. It's the employees. Employee engagement is a huge part of what I do,” he said. “I can never lose focus that my job is nothing except to support those who are doing the real work here."

Atchison added that he wants to make the hospital "a place that everybody that's here is happy to be here, feels safe working here and wants to be part of this team" and highlighted the importance of being approachable as a leader.

“I think it’s something that gets lost sometimes in health care," he said. "Sometimes your administrator offices are not even in the same building or you never see the senior leadership team. I definitely make a point of being approachable and being seen. I go to the emergency room everyday and check on them. That's a high paced hard environment. They can’t turn anybody away at the door. It doesn’t matter how busy it is, you have to accept everybody who shows up. So I like to go down there and visit with them to show support.”

Atchison also spoke about the financial restraints in health care. When asked about balancing the push and pull of financial restrictions with the needs of the community, Atchison said, “That’s obviously a major challenge in all hospitals right now. The financial landscape changed greatly after Covid with the additional costs of traveling nurses and the shortage of physicians.”

McLaren accepts upwards of 200 transfer patients a month from local hospitals, according to Atchison, with its most significant challenge being staffing shortages.

“You have to have a laser focus on recruiting primary care and specialty physicians as well as staff retention and staff expansions,” said Atchison.

Currently, there are over 8,000 open nursing jobs in the state of Michigan, creating some stiff competition for Atchison’s hiring goals.

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As a regional referral and Level 2 trauma center, Atichson said not providing services is simply not an option.

“We have to be able to take patients from St. Ignace or Gaylord or Charlevoix that need to get in here,” he said.

Atchison’s position is not an easy one. He stands at the intersection of public health care and private finance and must continuously balance the two.

He described his top priorities as being physician and staff recruitment, and reengaging with the community to create the “pride in this hospital that has existed in the past."

While it can be difficult to attract talent to a rural health care system, Atchison said the beauty of Northern Michigan helps draw in new recruits.

“Rural health care in our country is definitely in trouble. You see rural hospitals closing across the country," he said. "We are a highly sought-after place to live ... there are reasons why people love it here. Certainly, compared to other places I’ve been, recruiting should be easier here because it is such a desirable place to live.”

When it comes to fostering a positive and collaborative organizational culture, Atchison said "It’s important to develop that culture that makes people really proud to work here.”

“The way that we treat and value our team members is really important to me," he said. "Creating an environment of psychological safety where every employee feels safe to raise their hand and speak out if they see something that they think is not right or as well as it could be or to speak out about patient safety."

There have been significant changes to working in the health care system during and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

"You couldn’t help but be moved by the bravery of people that were showing up everyday," Atchison said. "I don’t think anybody who went through it — whether as an employee or a leader — wasn't changed by it. It was not easy.”

Increasing instances of violence against health care workers has also become a major issue in the post-pandemic world.

“One of the biggest challenges in health care now is the public, it’s violence toward health care workers," Atchison said. "It is a huge issue. They put themselves at risk, not just from disease but from angry patients and visitors. It’s a high-pressure, high-volume type world. You never know what is coming through the emergency room doors and you have to always be ready to do what needs to be done.”

Despite the challenges, Atchison said his job is also incredibly rewarding. He enjoys "interacting with the people in the building that are providing such great care within our community."

"It's what makes me keep doing it," he said. "I think it’s having the understanding that what I do is not important. It's what everybody in this building does that's important."

— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier.com

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Gar Atchison settling into McLaren Northern Michigan's CEO role