Former journalist celebrating 30 years with Onondaga County Medical Society

By Jane McChesney

When Gerald N. Hoffman was a student at Cathedral High School in Syracuse, he worked as a radio disc jockey interviewing up-and-coming stars such as Nat King Cole and Frankie Lane on “Jerry’s Jamboree.”
Fast forward a few years, and you would have found Hoffman at Syracuse University, broadcasting the first NCAA basketball game on the radio. Or you might have seen his byline in the Syracuse Herald-Journal sports pages, where he wrote for four years.

He spent 25 years in Albany with state Sen. Tarky Lombardi Jr., serving as a senior aide for 15 years. Among the legislative issues he worked on were those concerning health care. He also co-authored a book with Lombardi, “Medical Malpractice, a Legislator’s View.” “When we wrote the book, I garnered such empathy for doctors,” Hoffman, a Syracuse native, said.

Medical, media and governmental relations proved to be a winning combination for Hoffman, who rolled those experiences together in 1981 and joined the Onondaga County Medical Society as chief executive officer and executive vice president.

This year marks his 30th on the job.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to interact with hundreds of caring and highly capable physicians. We are most fortunate to have excellent medical care in our community. I do not think that many people realize that,” Hoffman said recently at his Syracuse office.

Hoffman’s responsibilities include dealing with government officials, interacting with member physicians and their staffs, assisting them with state and federal rules and regulations as well as human resource issues and other areas related to practice management. He also works with members of the executive board at the medical society. The office he oversees handles calls from the public, produces a quarterly magazine and a physicians’ directory, and referral service among other services.

Hoffman, who earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from SU in radio and television and public relations management, lives in the town of Onondaga with his “red-headed Irish” wife, Elizabeth, a Plattsburg native. They have two children and four grandchildren.

“My wife and I were married at St. Rose of Lima Church in North Syracuse on December 28, 1963. Our daughter, Kathleen, was born on Christmas Day, 1968 and our youngest grandson Connor Hoffman was born on December 29, 2003. My wife’s birthday is Jan. 6. Everything coming so close together each year taxes my imagination, and wallet, but I am very happy to do it, and thankful that I have this chore. I have been very blessed in my life in so many ways.”

Hoffman, 74, says that three decades have shown him a lot about Central New York and its people. He’s also seen plenty of change over the years. From the rise of technology, to the success of new medications to quality of care, Hoffman is impressed and pleased to be part of the Central New York health-care system. He sees a region that has kept up with the challenges and responded to patients’ changing needs.

“Our medical society has always been in the forefront when health care challenges come to our community. This was the case in 1987-1988 when local infant mortality reached a level of a third-world country, he said.
“We joined forces in the past year with our County Health Commissioner in addressing the H1N1 epidemic. Dr. Cynthia Morrow, the current health commissioner, often calls upon the medical society to assist her and her department.”

“There are a lot of medical organizations in the Syracuse area but none has as many members as does the medical society. The news media, community leaders and elected officials often call us for our assistance and that of our members,” he said.

The medical society currently has 1,206 members: 1,118 physicians and 88 medical students.
And it is the people that Hoffman returns to again and again. They are what make the job for him.
Proud Syracusan—For 20 years, Hoffman and his wife sat at SU football games next to a couple from Warners, whom they had never known. The couple’s son, only three or four years old when they first met him, later played for SU and the New York Jets. While in prep school, he hurt his knee while playing in the Baltimore-Washington.

When the parents told physicians at Johns Hopkins that they lived in the Syracuse area, they were told that Syracuse has some of the finest orthopedic surgeons in the country, so they went home for the surgery.
More recently, Hoffman spoke with pride and emotion about four OCMS doctors — Michael A. FitzGerald, Robert A. Dracker, F. James Cirincione and Timothy E. McCall — who recently traveled to Haiti to help victims of the earthquake-ravaged island nation.

“Physicians are highly educated people, but they don’t differ that much from the general population. I’m proud and honored to have this opportunity in this town, where health care is the leading industry.”
And Hoffman loves to talk about “this town” — Syracuse. He sees himself as a goodwill ambassador, emphasizing the importance of the symphony, the theater and education. He has much praise for his alma mater, but is just as outspoken in his support for Onondaga Community College, where he sat on the foundation’s board of directors for six years.

Hoffman is the first one in the office in the morning. That’s the way he likes it. The journalist in him takes center stage as he peruses The Post-Standard, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today for relevant medical headlines. His staff pulls the headlines together with a paragraph of text and page number where the story can be found. Members of the medical society get the daily e-mails with online links so they can easily keep with medical news.

Hoffman is a member of the Government Relations Committee of The Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce an is an adviser to the board of directors of the Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York, a local health-care planning organization. He is also the co-author of a second book, “The History of Local Medical Care, Celebrating Physicians Past and Present, 1806 to 2006.”

“I’m glad I was born, raised and educated here, ‘ said Hoffman, who had an opportunity years ago to work in New York City with CBS, but chose to stay in Syracuse.

As for the future, Hoffman says, “the health-care industry is so important to our area, not only in terms of providing care but as a vital economic engine. In early March, the Medical Society of the State of New York released results of a statewide “Economic Impact Study.”

The study stated that here in Onondaga County, 427 physician practices are driving $1 billion into the county’s economy. These practices employee a total of 5,947 physicians and staff members.

“On the downside, it is discouraging that in recent years, more than 50 percent of young people who complete medical training in our state decide to go elsewhere. The medical liability climate in our state discourages these young physicians. It is not just physicians who bear the liability burden, which also faces all businesses, large and small. New York State will continue to lose physicians and businesses to other states if tort reform is not enacted. As a staff member of the State Senate Health Committee, I first encountered in 1971 the issue of medical liability insurance and its affects on physicians and the cost of care. Nearly 40 years later the issue remains a major concern.

“I remain very interested in politics, which is important for my work in addition to always being an interesting subject,” Hoffman said.

“When I received my bachelor’s degree from Syracuse in 1957, Sen. John F. Kennedy, then the junior senator from Massachusetts, was the featured speaker at commencement. Twelve years later when I received my master’s degree in public relations management from Newhouse School of Public Communications, William F. Buckley was the speaker at commencement. How about that for covering the political spectrum?”