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Mary Bufwack, PhD, Chief Executive Officer
United Neighborhood Health Services, Inc.

Although anthropology might not be the typical route to launch a healthcare career, for Mary Bufwack, her educational background has provided a solid foundation on which to build trust and understanding among the urban population she serves.

“After I had taught at Colgate University for several years, I decided to get into non-profit work because I wanted to move beyond studying society and teaching about it to actually trying to change it,” she said.

Bufwack said her mentors, teachers and role models were those involved in the social movements of the 1960s.

“These movements for social justice emphasized change at a community level and the importance of strong citizen and consumer involvement,” she noted.

Married to well known music historian and journalist Robert Oermann, an opportunity for her husband to work with the Country Music Hall of Fame brought the couple to Music City. Once in Nashville they were able to complete their jointly written book: Finding Her Voice: Women in Country Music, 1800-2000. Leaving her classroom behind, the move paved the way for Bufwack to work with the YWCA Shelter and Domestic Violence Program.

“It put me on a very different path,” she recalled of the transition.

After six years, Bufwack took over the reins at United Neighborhood Health Services where she has successfully served as CEO for the past two decades. Bufwack said she was attracted to UNHS because it was an example of citizens stepping up to fill a gap … “a people’s solution to a people’s problem.”

She explained, “I became involved in community healthcare because I believed in the principles of community health … the importance of neighborhood clinics. In my work, I love the fact that I am never far from those we serve. My office is at one of our neighborhood clinics in the Cayce Homes. My door is open. I know the needs of those we serve, and it is my job to translate their struggles into a strategy that improves community services.”

While Bufwack feels strongly about finding community solutions, she said it is also important to have governments recognize the importance of a healthy citizenship and provide necessary resources.

“The health of residents in a community is intertwined with poverty and education. If one cares about improving health, one must care about improving education and decreasing poverty,” she pointed out.

One of her biggest challenges is to change the consumer mindset that only the largest institutions with the latest technology can provide great care. While community clinics tend to be low tech and high touch, they also offer much less expensive solutions to caring for everyone, not just America’s uninsured and underinsured. “My mantra is ‘primary care is a very cost effective way to deliver care,’” she said.

Despite long days, Bufwack and her husband also make sure to carve out time together. She loves to read cooking magazines and try out new recipes. “Each evening, in the absence of other obligations, my husband and I cook and eat dinner together. It slows things down and puts the day in perspective.”

That perspective … plus being surrounded by equally passionate staff and volunteers … keeps Bufwack’s batteries charged as she works toward increasing the reach of UNHS to serve more residents and to help serve as the voice of the disenfranchised as local, state and federal leaders grapple with ways to put quality healthcare options within reach of all citizens.



May 2008

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