2024 Business Women Awards
INDUSTRY LEADER | HEALTH CARE SERVICES: Anitra Galmore
South County Health chief operations officer and chief nursing officer
WHEN SHE WAS YOUNGER, Anitra Galmore was no stranger to being in a hospital. But, in a good way.
Galmore had spent time with her grandmother, who was an emergency room secretary and honorary nurse. Galmore’s mother was a doctoral prepared nurse.
In all, numerous members of Galmore’s family over five generations chose health care as a professional pursuit. That includes Galmore, herself, now chief operations officer and chief nursing officer for South County Health.
In her dual role, Galmore is responsible for nursing and system operations. She focuses on closing gaps between clinical and nonclinical operations, efficiency projects and initiatives to increase patient safety. She also handles nursing services, safety and quality.
“I just can’t imagine us being as successful as we are without her,” said Andrew Prescott, general counsel for the South Kingstown-based health care organization that operates South County Hospital. “Her work is impactful and benefits our patients and our community greatly.”
Galmore’s leadership impacts nearly everything South County Health does, from nursing care to the organization’s finances. Prescott said nurses at South County Health are even more engaged with the organization and working in alignment with its mission to be the most trusted health partner and feels “a lot of that has to do with [Galmore’s] leadership.”
Galmore was responsible for implementing an internal nurse traveler program during the COVID-19 pandemic. As she put it, because of COVID-19, there were not enough nurses to meet the demand and Galmore worked with nursing leadership and human resources to provide a solution.
She received feedback from nurses and performed an assessment to understand staff members’ and patients’ needs. From that, Galmore was successful in putting together a program that allowed for the installment of the right necessary resources and made sure nurses were not overworked.
Galmore also worked to establish an alternative model for partnering with external agencies that met the team’s needs. She says the traveler nurses saw how well things worked at South County Health and some asked to remain with the organization.
“We have been able to actually employ some of those internal travelers, which has been fantastic, and continues to be a recruitment tool for us as well,” Galmore said.
Galmore is also passionate about working with underserved communities. She serves on the Jonnycake Center for Hope board and is chair of the South Kingstown-based nonprofit’s housing committee. Galmore also recently joined the South Kingstown Housing Authority Services and Development Corp..
“These are community members that are seeking assistance with affordable housing. They are the same community members that may end up in my health care system for one thing or another,” Galmore said. “I feel honored and privileged that I get the opportunity to influence in the community as well, within the health system, and that helps me stay connected to the needs of this community.”
Health care is ever-changing and it is meaningful work, she says. There are many roles open to people and the field is broader than most people think. The medical field will need more diverse workers in the future who can navigate technology to continue providing excellent patient care, Galmore says.
Galmore says that she’s becoming an active listener to understand what is in the hearts and minds of her team, patients and the community. She’s also made sure that she has a diverse team around her, ready to meet the community’s needs.
“I started on my journey in health care as a medical assistant, so I’ve been medical assistant, a graduate nurse, charge nurse, nurse manager, director, administrative director, and kind of come up through different channels, so I have been able to experience a lot of the things that people that I serve deal with every day,” she said. “So, I think that helps me connect with them in a different way.”
