HEALTH CARE HEROES 2026 AWARDS
Advancement In Health Care Prevention: Salve Regina University
Answers provided by Salve Regina University Public Relations and Content Manager Julie Miller.
What led you to choose health care as your profession? The Salve Health and Wellness Community Outreach Program is the brainchild of Dr. Debra Cherubini, associate professor of nursing and director of the RN-BSN program at Salve Regina University and was championed by Sen. Jack Reed. It launched in September 2025 with the goal of educating a rising generation of health care and mental health professionals by serving communities in need across Rhode Island – where they are, from a fully equipped, 40-foot educational mobile unit.
How have you helped boost the quality of or access to health care? Together with health care and community organizations, Salve students and faculty are advancing health care prevention and aiding in the effort to decrease health care access disparities across the state by providing much-needed on-site education about health care and preventive screenings. To date, the outreach program has completed 10 mobilizations to deliver education, materials and resources tailored to specific populations, including women’s health, dental health, mental health, blood pressure checks and domestic violence.
What is the biggest challenge you and your organization are facing this year? Our biggest challenge is finding ways to make the community aware of our outreach program and mission so we can bring the mobile unit to the most vulnerable populations.
What more do you feel the state can do to help further support the health care sector in Rhode Island? The state can aid in efforts to increase access to health care and education to vulnerable populations. Provider education is also important to ensure that those who serve our communities are aware of available services that would benefit vulnerable populations.
Are you confident patient access and quality of care will improve in Rhode Island over the next five years? Why or why not? For improvements to occur, we need to encourage providers who are educated in Rhode Island to stay in our state to increase and improve access to providers. This can be helped by providing reasonable housing, strong pay and benefits for sustainability of the workforce that will support increased access to care.
