By Gina Macris

Richard Charest, former president and CEO of Landmark Medical Center and currently a consultant to the troubled Eleanor Slater Hospital, has been nominated by Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee to lead the public hospital’s parent agency, the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH).

McKee and Womazetta Jones, Secretary of Health and Human Services, made the announcement May 26, saying, "We are confident that Richard's decades of experience in the health care field have prepared him to lead this department, which provides vital services and support to some of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable populations."

McKee has submitted Charest’s name to the Senate for its advice and consent. “We are pleased to have recruited a strong candidate who can help improve departmental policy, operations, staffing and patient care,” McKee said in a statement.

Secretary Jones, meanwhile, said that “BHDDH, particularly Eleanor Slater Hospital, has many urgent needs that will benefit from Richard’s leadership and healthcare and hospital management experience.”

“Those who rely on BHDDH for their behavioral and medical needs deserve the best care possible,” she said.

Neither Jones nor McKee mentioned the needs of adults with developmental disabilities in their statement. Roughly two thirds of the $486 million BHDDH budget is allocated to the Division of Developmental Disabilities, which is grappling with a workforce crisis and an approaching deadline for complying with a long-standing civil rights decree.

Charest worked his way up the ladder at Landmark Medical Center, where he “successfully led hospital operations and finances through receivership, reassured the community and engaged employees and medical staff to ensure uninterrupted high-quality care,” according to the statement from McKee and Jones. Charest also has served as President and CEO of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island.

He has an undergraduate degree in pharmacy from Northeastern University and an MBA in Health Care Administration from Bryant University.