Health Care Heroes 2025
FIRST RESPONDER (individual): Kim LaFountain
Brown University Health Mental Health First Aid supervisor
What led you to choose health care as your profession? From a young age, I had a desire to pursue a career that brought a sense of purpose and helped support the well-being of others. Being part of health care for well more than 20 years has allowed me to do this in many ways. In my most current role at the Bradley Learning Exchange, a division of Bradley Hospital, the community education I provide has helped build healthier societies, fostering a sense of collective purpose.
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How have you helped boost the quality of access to health care? Mental Health First Aid providers learn to encourage access to services. By encouraging conversations and treating mental health as an important part of overall well-being, they help normalize seeking help and talking about emotions. These providers challenge stereotypes and misconceptions about mental health. This reinforces the idea that mental health challenges are treatable and help is available.
What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? The Bradley Learning Exchange’s most notable challenge is competing priorities. In schools, competing priorities often revolve around addressing immediate academic, safety and operational needs. In an organization or community, physical health initiatives may be prioritized over mental health initiatives.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? Rhode Island’s Medicaid program pays health care providers far less than what it costs to care for Medicaid patients. This causes doctors and clinicians to avoid or leave jobs in Rhode Island, choosing states with better Medicaid reimbursement where organizations offer more competitive salaries. Without action from the state, patients will have a harder time accessing care – hurting low-income and disadvantaged communities the most.
