By Lois Thomson, South Florida Hospital News, for ACHE of South Florida

“As much as I would like to plan my day, it doesn’t necessarily go that way.” That’s the way Aganette Parks, MHA, PMP, described her position as the associate administrator at Delray Medical Center.

“I oversee the daily operations for several ancillary departments,” she continued, highlighting surgical services, pharmacy, food and nutrition services, therapy services, the inpatient rehabilitation facility, and environmental services as being among them. She doesn’t do everything every day, but said, “A lot of my work is putting out fires. If any of my departments runs into any issues, I help remove any barriers, and provide them with the resources they need to do their job.”

Parks became interested in healthcare at a young age. She said her parents were Haitian immigrants who came to America before she was born. “I watched at a very young age how my parents, who didn’t speak much English, tried to navigate the healthcare system, and how complex it was.” She noticed the lack of cultural competency within the field, and said, “Seeing that at a young age made me want to get into healthcare and health administration to see if I could make a positive impact, to reach not just the Haitian community, but others within the community and be a representative.”

Parks said that was the main driver in seeking a leadership role, to have a seat at the table, and be able to directly influence decision-making that affects patients for all the right reasons. “I’m not clinical, I’m not an RN, but to help remove any barriers for our clinicians to provide the best care for patients – that’s what I enjoy doing the most as an administrator.”

Parks credits her current, and all of her previous positions under the Tenet umbrella, to her association with the American College of Healthcare Executives, an organization she became associated with when she was a student in graduate school in 2014. “I did my masters of health administration at the University of Florida, and we were introduced to ACHE as student members. I met some great people, fellowshipped, networked. Since then, I’ve always continued to be a member and joined my local chapter.”

For Parks, the membership has been a matter of building relationships, networking, getting education about her field. When she first joined, Parks said she understood healthcare executives to only be in hospitals and expected to just be connecting with other healthcare leaders. “But I’ve gotten more than that, I’ve been able to get so much more education, which has helped me to stay abreast of fresh topics in healthcare. That’s probably the best thing I’ve gotten out of the organization.”

Last year, Parks served on an ACHE panel on women in leadership, and said that as a black female administrator, it was a great opportunity to be able to showcase that. “Having a leadership role and being able to speak to others about the challenges I faced, and how I navigated the field, has probably been my biggest contribution to the organization so far.”

Parks said she would “absolutely” recommend joining ACHE, especially as a student, and called it a great organization to be plugged into to meet other like-minded individuals. “ACHE covers more than just hospital administrators, they cover all different specialties in healthcare – outside of hospitals, clinics – they have such a wide spectrum of all the subspecialties of healthcare. You can see that in the education they provide, the different topics. So I recommend for anyone who has a speck of healthcare within their job, to be a part of this organization.”