Community Relations

“When I think of community, I think not only of the external stakeholders whom our hospitals touch, but our internal stakeholders also. WE ARE our community! We are one and the same.” Gertrude Jones – Vice President of Community Relations

The office of community relations began operations in February 2010. It was established to consolidate community outreach activities and demonstrate the commitment of Lifespan and its affiliate partners to foster and grow strong and productive relationships with our Rhode Island community.

Community relations at Lifespan involve our stakeholders and all our employees. From our board to our front-line employees, the Lifespan team is committed to demonstrating and showcasing the manner in which we care for our communities.

We are a team of seasoned professionals with extensive backgrounds in community engagement, grassroots advocacy, diversity, government relations, communications, customer service, finance, program design and evaluation, to name just a few.

Although Lifespan has a long and impressive tradition of community involvement at all levels of the organization, for many Rhode Islanders the full extent of our reach is not known. By creating the office of community relations, Lifespan is able to provide our community partners with a single point of entry, advise our internal partners as they develop community projects, reduce the duplication of services and resources, and align our community investments more closely with Lifespan’s strategic goals.

We will continuously provide information about the varied ways that our employees work within Lifespan to serve the health needs of the community, as well as about the thousands of volunteer hours of their own time that employees donate to community projects. This dedication reflects our belief that Lifespan employees care for the community 24/7.