It could be said that Fran Finley, chief administrative officer of Aurora Medical Center in the Town of Summit, started out on the front line of health care. No, she is not a nurse or doctor. She began her health care career as a receptionist at the Henry Ford Clinic just outside of Detroit, Mich. There she was the first line of comfort to all those who entered the clinic looking for compassionate care.

Since that time 34 years ago, health care has faced a lot of change – and it is looking to face more in the coming years. “People are better educated about health care now. There is a lot of information available through the media and Internet. People have a greater understanding and demand more,” Finley says.

All good things, she opines. “One thing that won’t change is how health care is a personal issue and a personal choice. No regulation will take that away.”

Finley is still doing what she does best – just on a much larger scale, which is why Aurora Health Care asked her to lead the 110-bed facility that will focus on cancer and cardiac services, neurosciences and services for women. The new facility broke ground in May 2007.

Scheduled to open March 1, Finley is excited about what the new medical center means to the community. The hospital will employ approximately 700 people; and building a new hospital takes time, talent and treasure, Finley says. “A hospital can be up and running in about 18 months. There are processes in place that we follow. We are proud that we have combined the best care with the best access and focus on quality. The results are exceptional.”

Finley speaks from experience, which, of course, is why Aurora tapped into her expertise. Aurora recruited her to open and run its medical center in Oshkosh. “It was a great opportunity for me to open a facility,” she says of the 84-bed center that was a hybrid of a community hospital that offered higher-end services. That was in 2003.

Finley strikes a balance of being confident, honored and respectful of the challenges of building and running a hospital; and she is quick to credit the hundreds of people who dedicated countless hours to Aurora’s mission of patient-centered care.

Originally from St. Claire Shores, Mich., Finley grew up in a working-class home. One of seven children, she was the first daughter. “My mother always told me I could do whatever I wanted to do,” she says of the woman who worked outside the home while raising Finley and her siblings. Finley’s father, who passed away in 2000, may not have had a degree but was very intelligent by Finley’s account. He had worked in the industrial environs so ubiquitous in Detroit in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Dreaming of being a teacher, Finley majored in biology at Southwest Missouri State University. “As time went on I realized I wanted to be in the thick of it,” she says. An undergraduate assignment sealed her resolve. As a class assignment, Finley interviewed an executive of a large-group medical practice. “After that, I thought, that’s something I’d be interested in.”

From there, Finley went on to earn a master’s in health administration from Washington University School of Medicine. She then did a post-graduate fellowship in health care administration in Charleston, W.Va. where she lived for 13 years. In 2005, she received her PhD in health administration from Central Michigan University.

When she was asked to join Aurora in 2003, she was the vice president and administrator of a large teaching hospital in Charleston. “Being an administrator, I found unique ways to combine my skills of knowing people’s behaviors and the systems that worked and saw good things happen: People who were hurt or sick would go home healthy,” Finley says.

She honed those skills the “old-school way.” Even though she may not be what is typically considered front-line medical staff, she makes her rounds. “I talk with the families, staff and people we serve. I ask questions,” she says of the philosophy, “you can’t find solutions if you don’t know the problems.”

“What attracted me to Aurora was the opportunity to provide integrated care and holistic medicine in a healing environment. It goes back to basics: human beings taking care of human beings in unique ways. This is why people go into medicine. They are passionate about taking care of people,” Finley says.

Twenty years ago hospital administrators were predominantly white males, says Finley, who claims she has never fallen into the gender-issue trap. “Now, there are more opportunities for women.”

For Finley, life is full and rich for her and her husband Steve. They have been married for 34 years and have two children: Stephen, 14, and Elisabeth, 12.

Due to the ages of their children, Fran and Steve spend most of their free time on a soccer field watching them play. “There is track and orchestra too. They are at an age where their activities keep us pretty busy,” she says.

Family is a focus for her. They spent the recent holidays with Fran’s mother at the family home in Paradise, Mich. off Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior. There they went snowshoeing and enjoyed the outdoors. She appreciates the quiet times like these as she faces the challenges of leading a medical center in the 21st century.

Finley is passionate but realistic about what’s ahead particularly in today’s health care climate. “Health care is expensive. It will always be a challenge to figure out how to spend our precious resources. Our approach is one of compassion. We provide care to those with or without resources. People don’t choose to be sick or injured. We take care of the most vulnerable,” she says.

The current economy posed certain challenges as the hospital was being constructed. Regulations, which Finley says seem to change daily, are always a challenge. When building the hospital and assembling a dedicated team of employees, there was a deep pool of dedicated, talented people eager to work, “which was one way the economy worked in the hospital’s favor,” she says.

Finley speaks passionately about the new hospital’s focus on women’s health issues. “The entire life continuum will be served -- from reproductive years, moms and women in mid- to late-life. We are excited about serving each phase of a woman’s life.”

Aurora excels in working to build patient safety and having services that patients need, Finley says. “We are looking to promote wellness and prevention. Health education will go a long way to help preserve resources. To a certain extent, our health is something we have control over.”