This profile of Robyn Gonzales, Vice President of Operations, Community Regional Medical Center, was published in the “How She Leads” supplement from September 2021.

I’ve been blessed to grow and learn at Community. In 1999, I rejoined the Community Medical Centers family as Manager of Ambulatory Care Services, later becoming Vice President of Ambulatory & Post-Acute Services. It was a busy time (or so I thought). I oversaw a multitude of departments, including: Ambulatory Clinics, Chronic Disease Management Programs, Community Special Services, Community Behavioral Health Center, Community Subacute and Transitional Care Center, Home Health, Dialysis, Rehabilitation Services, Population Health, Palliative Care, Advanced Care Planning and Emergency Preparedness.

I truly believe that every step in my career helped prepare me for this. The last 40 years of experiences in team building, collaboration and emergency preparedness came together and brought me to where I am right now. In March 2020, I was tapped to lead the Community Health System response as Incident Commander for the COVID-19 crisis.

This pandemic forced our team to operate in new ways, take on new roles and update policies in the interest of public health and safety. Of the many things that the team at Community Health System has accomplished, what I’m most proud of is that we’ve never ceased to provide high-quality care for all those in need of our healthcare services.

After 18 months, I see the fatigue, anxiety and stress that our healthcare workers face daily. I understand the eagerness we all have to want to return to “normal” as soon as possible. While we’re not there yet, we can each do our part to stop the spread of the virus by staying home when we’re sick, wearing our masks when we’re in public and getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

I’m confident that the sooner we each do our part, the faster we can heal. If history has shown us nothing else, it’s proven that when we work as a team, we are truly stronger together.