When Paul Logan first arrived at Northwest Human Services, the CEO planned to work there for two years — the length of his first contract. He stayed for 28.In that time, he oversaw major changes at the health care provider, including the integration of physical and mental health, and a pivot from mostly birthing babies to doing outreach to save life and limb on Salem’s streets.“It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done, much harder than running a hospital, but a whole lot more rewarding. I mean, the challenges, I’ve never been bored a day in 28 years,” Logan said.Logan retired at the end of September, after helming the medical, dental, mental health and social services provider for the majority of its 50-year history. It’s a federally-qualified health center which means they provide care regardless of ability to pay.Beyond medical, dental and mental health care at their clinics in West Salem and Monmouth, the organization also responds to 988 crisis and information calls. It’s a leader in caring for Salem’s unsheltered community, including street outreach bringing medical care directly to camps. Northwest Human Services new CEO is Kimberly Leathley, most recently the vice president and chief of health services at Central City Concern in Portland. Chief Operations Officer Stephen Goins, who worked with Logan for a decade, lost track of the amount of staff goodbye projects that happened ahead of his retirement party on Sept. 24. Goins signed cards, poster boards and a square of fabric later made into a quilt.“He’s one of those supervisors who really truly cares about staff, and not just how they’re doing professionally or in the workplace. He cares about people as people,” Goins said.In the decade they worked together, Goins said Logan maintained his “signature” mustache. He carried a briefcase and wore a suit every day to demonstrate the care and attention he showed to the work they did. Logan’s office had an open door for anyone, and a well-stocked candy dish.During Logan’s tenure, Northwest Human Services’ staff expanded from 67 people to about 250. In 2023, they saw 12,503 patients and took nearly 30,000 calls to the crisis and information hotline, according to their annual report. Last year’s revenue was $36.6 million, according to the report.  Even as the organization grew, Logan would handpick cards for each employee’s birthday and write everyone a personalized message.“I just think that’s rare,” Goins said. “He had such a rare and unique leadership style that’s different than what you see today.” The early years Logan grew up in Spokane, and went to college for a few years at Willamette University before transferring to the University of Washington, where he got his undergraduate and graduate degrees in psychology and health administration and planning.  After a brief stint in nonprofit work, he spent the first dozen years of his career working as a CEO at hospitals struggling financially, including over six years in Boise. He then worked as a traveling CEO where he would spend a few months evaluating staffing, efficiencies and services at hospitals across the country.  It wasn’t the right fit for him.“The corporate world is driven by shareholder return. It can be frustrating when you are, in general, moving things forward that benefit patients, but you’re also having to speak to ‘what are the earnings,’” he said. “Some of the decisions that get made are a toss up as to whether they benefit the owners more than the patients.” A friend in Oregon pointed him to a job opening at Northwest Human Services. He liked Salem, and it was close to his home state of Washington.He was also intrigued by the organization’s offering of both primary health care and social services.“Coming back to a nonprofit was like, ‘Wow. I don’t have shareholders. I just have board members.’ And all they care about is: can we afford it? Is it sustainable? And how do we do more of it?” he said.  Most of the clients they served were on Medicare, Medicaid or uninsured, so much of Logan’s work involved seeking grants and contracts, developing relationships and making sure that their programs met niche needs that weren’t offered elsewhere in the community.  When he first arrived, that niche was delivering more babies than anywhere else in Salem. He recalled a large board that used to be at the clinic.“It was just plastered with baby pictures, because we just kept adding and adding and adding each year,” he said.But, that shifted when Salem Health announced it would build a birth center, which was completed in 2003.“We sat down and went, ‘Wow, that’s really going to have a hit here because we do mostly babies. And most of the people we recruited to work for us did babies,’” he said. He said the organization went through a rough patch, and was unsure where to go next. They didn’t want to intrude on existing pediatric practices, which already supported low-income families. They considered farmworkers, but the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic was already focusing on the medical needs of that community.  “So the board said, ‘We’re getting more just sick, chronic adults. They’re getting older, they’re getting sicker,’” he said. “And we hear some rumor about more people being homeless.” So, they pivoted.  Paul Logan serving meals at a Northwest Human Services holiday event. (Courtesy/ Northwest Human Services) Integrating services Northwest Human Services had found its new niche in providing free medical care to Salem’s unsheltered population.  “So far, nobody else has really wanted to be doing those populations,” Logan said. “It’s really difficult. It involves a lot of time and intensive work and a whole team of people to do it.”The shift brought on more changes to the way Northwest Human Services operated. They added in community health workers, and began further integrating mental and physical health care.Someone can, through Northwest Human Services’ programs, meet an outreach nurse at an encampment, book an appointment, and then get mental health and medical treatment under one roof at the clinic. They began focusing on recruiting people who really wanted to work with disadvantaged populations, with resume points like service work in developing countries.“I’ve often said, you either really love this population, or you don’t want to work with them at all,” he said.A major change was adding the Northwest Human Services’ Outreach Team five years ago. That’s a group of nurses and community health workers who visit encampments to treat minor injuries and secure follow-up care. They also guide people through signing up for insurance, housing services, food and mental health assistance. Because of Logan, Goins said Northwest Humans Services is ahead of the curve in building trust with patients who have substance use and mental health issues, and taking a non-traditional approach to care that focuses on people’s unique needs over time.“(The integration) has been so successful in connecting people to care, and keeping people’s limbs attached, to be honest with you. We’re catching infections beforehand. We’re building trust so we can get people to the clinic so that they can be exposed to the full seat of health services that we offer,” he said.“That was Paul hearing from the staff, hearing from the community, and believing that we can do something different.” A key element of Northwest Human Services’ approach is providing access to both mental health and medical care.When Logan first arrived, that wasn’t the case. Primary care providers were overloaded with needs, he recalled, and one said ‘you’re killing me here’ when telling Logan that six of their eight newest patients had concurrent mental health issues that they couldn’t help.“They don’t tell me that anymore,” he said. “Because they’re able to take those patients, see what their needs are, medically, have a behavioral health consultant sit with them and get an evaluation, even refer them directly to mental health or refer them to psychiatry.” Logan said he’s proudest of being the first primary care in the community to successfully integrate mental health and medical treatment.  It’s a philosophy visible in the recent expansion of their flagship clinic at 1233 Edgewater St., which put medical, dental, mental health care and billing under one roof last year.Logan said the expansion had been a dream of his for years after watching staff dash between buildings in the pouring rain.Logan said his biggest complaint about the world is that it’s run by people who don’t use the services they’re in charge of. It’s why he required that over half the board be made up of people who are patients at Northwest Human Services.He brought the patient-first perspective to most of his decisions. Someone who’s 15 minutes late to their appointment or shows up on the wrong day will still be seen even though that’s not typical of most health care providers.Logan, not one to take credit, often cited the specific person who inspired each of the changes made under his leadership.It was a psychiatrist many years ago who told him one of his leading philosophies.“You can’t fix patients’ conditions, but you can give them what they really need, which is five minutes of undivided attention. He said that would cure the world’s problems, and people would understand that’s what folks really want. They want to be seen, they want to be heard, they want to be recognized,” Logan said. What’s next for Logan, and Northwest Human Services Logan said he chose to retire because he didn’t want to be told to leave first. He’s seen many of his peers retire before him, including his wife of 45 years. “It’s a combination of, you see yourself slowing down a little bit, but then you see the up-and-comers, and they’re like, chomping at the bit to take things over,” he said. “I don’t want to be in their way.” Logan said he’s excited about Leathley, the next CEO’s, energy, experience and vision. He said he hopes the future of Northwest Human Services includes expanding total health coverage in Monmouth, where affordable housing development is “going gangbusters.” He’d also like to see their 988 system, which takes crisis calls in Marion and Polk counties, improve and expand further. Logan said Northwest Human Services still has room to expand, and to collaborate further with housing providers. He’s not sure what retirement will look like quite yet. It will probably include staying involved in Salem. “I’ve got friends who have totally remodeled their houses, or moved to Portland and bought a property, or built out here and there. That’s not me,” he said. Four photos of Paul Logan, longtime CEO of Northwest Human Services, throughout the years. (Courtesy/ Northwest Human Services) Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Northwest Human Services CEO retires after helping thousands get health care in Salem appeared first on Salem Reporter.