HEALTH CARE HEROES 2026 AWARDS
Physician: Dr. Leah McDonald, HopeHealth physician
What led you to choose health care as your profession? A passion for working with people in need. I feel lucky that I had the intellect and access to the education needed to be able to pursue a career that is so fulfilling to me.
How have you helped boost the quality of or access to health care? Through our [emergency department] ED-embedded palliative care initiative at HopeHealth, we have brought quality palliative medicine and hospice care to patients. Providing this service early in a patient’s hospital course has allowed for more goal-concordant and compassionate care.
What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? We are no different than other organizations in health care facing staffing and funding issues. As a nonprofit organization, HopeHealth looks to provide quality care within a certain financial landscape. Additionally, hospital census and ED boarding have proved a challenge to providing the level of care we hope to provide for our patients.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? I would love to see more support for continuity of palliative care, and medical care in general, across health care settings. This means funding more robust care in the home and skilled nursing facilities, creative initiatives to allow easy communication between health care systems, and providing additional support to caregivers.
Are you confident patient access and quality of care will improve in Rhode Island over the next five years? Why or why not? I am very hopeful because I work alongside so many superstars. I have colleagues who continue to think outside the box in how to create new solutions – home palliative care, embedding palliative care into clinics, engaging with PCPs [primary care providers] to create more streamlined communication on care plans, research on quality improvement.
Tell us one thing that most people don’t know about you. Before returning to higher education, I spent time working in the field of psychiatric and addiction medicine. I was able to witness the forefront of buprenorphine use for opiate use disorder, which has been an inspiration to continue providing this important medication to increasing populations.
