A standing room only audience greeted Nicole Alexander-Scott, MD, MPH Director of Rhode Island Department of Health when she addressed an enthusiastic audience in the auditorium of the CBL Building on Tuesday evening, March 1^st. Sponsored by the URI Multicultural Student Nurses Association, the event was designed to provide information about the Department’s goal of improving the health of all Rhode Islanders and informing the public on the importance of public health.

After a welcome to the audience by Bintou Camara, President of MSNA, Dr. Alexander-Scott was introduced by Dean Mary Sullivan, College of Nursing. In her introduction, Dean Sullivan noted, “the enormous amount of changes going on in health care and the part that over three million nurses play as the largest sector of the health care workforce.” She also noted “the increase in home care and community care” as an alternative to hospitalization.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Alexander Scott explained how she became a doctor and rose to her present position. She noted the inspirational part played by a mother who refused to give in. Growing up in Norfolk, VA, her mother, Mrs. Alexander, attended a vocational high school. Through sheer will power and refusing to take “no” for an answer she managed to eventually become a RN and even earn a Master’s Degree. Her mother’s rise to the position of Director of Nursing at a Hospital in New York was an inspiring tale of perseverance against very strong odds. It was this example that encouraged Dr. Alexander-Scott to become a physician.

Dr. Alexander-Scott first came to Rhode Island through Brown University infectious disease fellowship. She related how in her first year while working in pediatrics, she consulted on a newborn that was determined to have HIV. The mother was then tested and found to have lymphoma and AIDS. At that time in 2006 there was no standard system for testing pregnant women for HIV. Because of her previous work in New York, Dr. Alexander-Scott was familiar with legislation related to HIV/AIDS testing and pregnant women. This event caused Dr. Alexander-Scott to contact legislators in the General Assembly and help create a bill to ensure testing for all pregnant women. The bill passed in 2007 and in 2009 another bill passed that all patients would be tested for HIV/AIDS with verbal consent. It was this initial action during her fellowship that brought her to the attention of the state medical community and led to several appointments on various committees and ultimately positions at the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Dr. Alexander-Scott noted the critical part nurses play in determining the health care of a patient, before presenting a Power-Point presentation of the current goals and priorities or the Rhode Island Dept. of Health. She cited three leading priorities:

1. Address the Social and Environmental Determinants of Health in Rhode Island.
2. Eliminate the Disparities of Health in RI and Promote Health Equity.
3. Ensure Access to Quality Health Services for Rhode Islanders, Including Our Vulnerable Populations.

To accomplish these priorities, Dr. Alexander-Scott envisioned a strategy of creating a Rhode Island Department of Health Academic Center. It would develop excellence in public health by producing the next generation of multidisciplinary public health practitioners. The Center would focus on four separate areas: Quality Improvement, Workforce Career Development, Public Health Education and Public Health Research. It would also partner with other State Agencies throughout Rhode Island to deal with health issues like drinking water quality, food protection, environmental health, state laboratories, elderly affairs, licensing boards and hospitals. She noted the numerous disparities in health care throughout the RI population that involve gender, age, race/ethnicity, disabilities, mental health, education, geographic location and life expectancy.

Foremost among the priorities was the need to ensure access to quality health services for all Rhode Islanders, including our vulnerable populations. To ensure that access to care the Department of Health is trying to match Medicaid and ACA goals with Community Health Centers, Preventative Services and Primary Care, Maternal and Child Health Care, Long-term Care and having patient involvement/empowerment. The five immediate strategies that the Rhode Island Department of Health hopes to implement to achieve their priorities are:

1. Promote healthy living for all through all states of life.
2. Ensure access to safe food, water and health environments.
3. Prevent, investigate, control and eliminate health hazards and emergent threats.
4. Promote a comprehensive health system that a person can access, navigate and afford.
5. Analyze and communicate data to improve the public’s health.

 

She stressed that a person’s zip code should not determine their health outcomes. At the end of the presentation, Dr. Alexander Scott accepted questions from the audience dealing with a wide range of health subjects.