BY JASON COHEN
Throughout a childhood that was
witness to senseless violence and rival
gang wars, the one thing Alfredo Jones
always wanted to do was help others.
Today, the lifelong Bronxite is deputy
executive director of NYC Health +
Hospitals/North Central Bronx. Jones
offi cially began the position in May and
is responsible for day-to-day operations
of the hospital, supervising staff, cultivating
relations with clinical leaders
and the community — and much more.
Jones, 45, has worked in the NYC
Health + Hospitals network for eight
years. Most recently, he served as associate
executive director, patient access
and growth, at their Harlem location,
where he was responsible for developing
and vetting business plans to grow
net revenue and patient volume.
He began his career in public health
at the North Central Bronx location in
2013, serving as associate director of
ambulatory care. He then went on to assume
leadership roles of increasing responsibility,
ending his tenure in 2017
as associate executive director of ambulatory
care.
“So far it’s been amazing,” he said of
his new position. “I’ve been embracing
my role. I’m back in the Bronx and I feel
like this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Jones has broad experience in
health care management of ambulatory,
clinical and ancillary services. He
holds a master’s degree in public health
in community health education from
Hunter College, a master’s degree from
the University of Medicine & Dentistry
of New Jersey and a bachelor’s degree
in human development from Cornell
University, College of Human Ecology.
He also completed a fellowship with
America’s Essential Hospitals and is a
member of the LEAN Advisory Board
leadership.
Describing himself as a “die-hard
Bronxite,” Jones was born and raised
off Gun Hill Road in the “Valley.” He
said he grew up during a time of highlevel
violence in the area, but his parents,
Nancy and Alfred, always kept
him on the right path.
Besides family, the two key things
in his life were school and sports. With
a mom that was a teacher, performing
poorly in class wasn’t an option. But,
as soon as the bell rang, he was riding
bikes all over the Bronx and into Harlem
and playing basketball at the Eastchester
Road courts.
“A lot of growing up was predicated
on sports,” Jones said. “Sports and my
mother being an educator kept me out
of trouble.”
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, N 30 OV. 26-DEC. 2,2021 BTR
Alfredo Jones was appointed deputy executive director of NYC Health + Hospitals/North
Central Bronx this summer. Photo courtesy NYC Health Hospitals/North Central Bronx
But that doesn’t mean that trouble
wasn’t just around the corner. There
were “turf war issues and beefs with
other Bronx neighborhoods,” he said.
Jones told the Bronx Times that
when he was around the age of 11, he
and his friends saw a dead body in the
bushes, a dead man in a trunk of a car
and other heinous things.
“It freaked everyone out,” he said.
“To have it come to your doorstep gave
us a sense of vulnerability.”
Jones never got caught up in crime.
Instead, he was always wanted to help,
with that belief stemming from many
people in his family working in the
medical fi eld. And like many Bronxites,
Jones also suffered from asthma.
“I saw a gap growing up,” he said.
“The people taking care of my family,
they didn’t look like me. I thought this
was an opportunity.”
Jones was determined to learn about
the medical fi eld. He landed his fi rst job
at St. Luke’s Hospital in Manhattan
where he assisted in running a study
exploring obesity in an elderly Hispanic
woman and coordinated study
endeavors including running measurements
within the protocol, data collection,
entry and management for abstract
and research paper publication.
From there, he worked his way up
the ladder and today has been in the
healthcare fi eld for 20 years. However,
in the past two decades, there was never
a more challenging time than during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Trucks being
used as mobile morgues, people struggling
to breathe and the amount of sickness
and death, are all things he never
imagined witnessing. But he and his
staff leaned on each other and persevered.
“It was not a time that anybody was
thinking of themselves,” he said. “We
were trying to bridge gaps between
family members who were on the cusp
of losing their family member and trying
to be the person that’s holding an
iPad.”
Now that people are getting vaccinated,
Jones sees the light at the end
of the tunnel and feels good about the
future. He told the Bronx Times that
when he saw the job posting for the position
back in his native borough, he
seized the opportunity.
“I want (North Central Bronx) to be
the hospital that the community relies
on,” Jones said. “I want us to be a facility
that’s known for chronic disease
management because that’s what cripples
the Bronx.”
Alfredo Jones looks to
upbringing as health leader
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