Laura Currie, who started at the William W. Backus and Windham hospitals as Hartford HealthCare's regional vice president for patient services this week, has spent almost her entire career at the Massachusetts nonprofit hospital system Baystate Health.

Coming to Connecticut, she said, was a way for her to bring her career closer to patients.

"I was examining my next step in my career, and looking at a position that was (focused) on nursing practice and patient care ... and get back to that," she said in an interview Thursday. "My heart and spirit is with patient care. That's what makes every nurse want to go into nursing."

The move to Backus and Windham, which make up parent company Hartford HealthCare's eastern region, also is a return to Connecticut: after graduating from Northeastern University and the University of Connecticut, Currie's first job was as a nurse at Hartford Hospital.

She then went to Baystate Health and worked there for 27 years, starting as a nurse specializing in cardiovascular care and surgery, and most recently serving as the director of cardiovascular services. Currie also is an adjunct professor at the nursing school at Elms College in Chicopee, Mass.

She'll oversee patient care at the 14 inpatient units at Backus and six at Windham, splitting her time between the two hospitals and commuting from her home in Ludlow, Mass.

"Her experience, leadership style and vision will be key as we continue to grow services here and improve the patient experience,” Donna Handley, the president of Backus and Windham hospitals, said in a statement.

Currie still was getting to know the hospitals this week; her first tour of inpatient units was scheduled for Thursday afternoon and she said she was working to understand the hospitals' culture and place in the Hartford HealthCare system.

"I'm still learning," she said. "I've been introducing myself ... getting to know what's going on. I've been learning the ins and outs of Hartford HealthCare. I'm writing down everybody's name in my book so I can remember ... and really just go out and meet people."

She said her experience at Baystate Health and its Springfield, Mass., Baystate Medical Center have helped her appreciate how a big hospital still can be part of the community around it.

"Baystate is a big hospital but it's really a community-feel hospital," she said. "That's what I like here. Everybody says 'hello.'"

Currie said that while she still has yet to get to know the details of Backus' inner workings, she has found its staff to be ingrained in the Norwich area and caring about the quality of patients' experiences at the hospital.

"What I'm finding ... is that they are really dedicated to patients," she said.

Currie said her goal is to bring the metrics that measure patient satisfaction up to align with that level of dedication.

"What has been tried, what do we need to do, how can we leverage all of the tools that we have currently to strengthen what is already a good foundation, but to take it to the next level?" she said she will ask. "Backus and Windham have phenomenal outcomes, they have some great satisfaction (rates) but we always have opportunity to get better."

m.shanahan@theday.com