Power Broker: Dr. Amy Loeb, Peconic Bay Medical Center
By Todd Shapiro
Dr. Amy Loeb
Courtesy Northwell Health
A nurse is at the helm at Peconic Bay Medical Center.
Dr. Amy Loeb, this week's Hamptons Power Broker, is the Executive Director at Riverhead's Peconic Bay Medical Center. She was appointed to the post, beginning on Feb. 1, 2021, after a two year stint as Deputy Executive Director beneath President/CEO Andrew Mitchell.
Mitchell held the position of President/CEO for over 20 years, beginning in 2001, where he was credited with turning around then-struggling Central Suffolk Hospital. Peconic Bay Medical Center transitioned to Northwell Health in 2016, an undertaking in which Dr. Loeb was instrumental in facilitating.
Dr. Loeb's pedigree is phenomenal and she is among the most well-respected voices in hospital administration on Long Island. Her experience, though, is not solely in administrative roles, as she began her storied career in the Long Island healthcare industry as a nurse at Huntington Hospital, 16 years ago.
Loeb holds a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing, a Master's in Business Administration from St. Joseph's College on Long Island and secured her Research Doctorate from Columbia University's prestigious Teachers College in Organizational Leadership and Management.
Her career trajectory and previous experience can not be understated. After her tenure as a nurse and nursing leader, she became the Vice President for Allied Health. In December 2015, she became the Chief Nursing Officer of Peconic Bay Medical Center.
"I would have never imagined it to go this way. But, I am driven by purpose and mission, and the way this organization supported me as a nurse to go back to school, it has been amazing. I have been fortunate to work for an organization that supports leadership development—compiling that with my own personal sense of mission—has been gratifying," she says.
After serving as the Chief Nursing Officer for three years, Dr. Loeb assumed the position of Deputy Executive Director, where her responsibilities included overseeing the daily operations of the hospital. Additionally, her role and responsibilities at the hospital and in the medical group continued to grow for two years, until she was tapped for the Hospital's top administrative role.
Dr. Loeb is equally well-respected among Northwell Health's "top brass" as she is among the rank-and-file medical staff and employees. Her previous roles across the healthcare system have earned her credence among employees, while her masterful management of "surge capacity planning and execution" during the COVID-19 pandemic earned her special praise among the health system's leadership.
But now, she says, it is time to focus on the task at hand.
Her immediate priorities involve boosting morale and maintaining spirits among the front-line heroes at Peconic Bay Medical Center. The past year at the hospital has brought special challenges and a range of emotions for employees, filled with both miraculous recovery and tragedy. The difficulty of the past year in the healthcare industry at large cannot be understated.
But furthermore, she sees her role in the hospital as a part of the community, dedicated to the 250,000 Long Islanders that she serves—many of whom rely on the hospital for primary and emergency care and treatment. Excellence in care, and the health of Long Islanders – especially with the continuing threat from the coronavirus—continues as her top priority.
In the next several years, the hospital continues to grow in size and scope of services. Dr. Loeb is overseeing the expansion of the physical hospital, having just completed a 60,000 square-foot expansion and planning for the next phase, so that it may continue to provide vital healthcare services to Long Island's East End – and continue to grow as the largest employer in the area.
"In five years, I see Peconic Bay with the support of Northwell as the premier provider of health and wellness services to the community, where people do not have to travel outside of the market —we can truly meet all the healthcare needs of the community, within the community.
"We have been focused on increasing access to services, such as state-of-the-art cardiac care, medical specialty care, imaging, and primary care. We are very focused now on women's health and cancer care, and will continue to focus on meeting the healthcare needs of our community," says Dr. Loeb.
Dr. Loeb's grandparents live in Hampton Bays—adding that she was raised on the Hampton Bays beaches. The Loeb family just purchased a home in Mattituck—nearly directly across the Peconic from where she spent many weekends during her childhood.
In Dr Loeb's free time, she enjoys spending time on Long Island's East End, surrounded by the communities and individuals her hospital serves. When she is not leading this healthcare institution, she is an avid hiker and a self-proclaimed "Hockey Mom."
She is a "46-er," having completed hiking all 46 high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Dr. Loeb says hiking is a "great way to decompress, think, and clear my head while being physically active."
"I always want to take great care of my wonderful family and show my sons what is possible in life—with purpose. My family, immediate and extended, has been the most important part of my life. And as a family, our healthcare experiences have not always been perfect. I want to strive for perfection in healthcare. Why shouldn't we? When I talk to the leadership team at the hospital, we talk about how every single patient is 'somebody's someone'—mother, father, uncle, aunt, sister, brother.
We in healthcare need to treat every person as if they were our own family. My family is the most important part of my life and so I understand that we have such a responsibility to do the right thing for those patients whose family is most important to them," says Dr. Loeb.
Dr. Loeb has been named twice "Healthcare Alumni of the Year" from St. Joseph's College. She was named "Nurse of the Year" by the Peconic Bay Medical Staff in 2019. Dr. Loeb has received the Zuckerberg Award for Nursing Excellence from Northwell Health.
Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and Associate Publisher at Dan's Papers.
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