Helen Arteaga is the first Latina woman to assume the general management of Elmhurst Hospital, an institution that provides medical care to a large immigrant community.
“I feel very proud, I feel like (that) I have come home, because Elmhurst Hospital has always been part of my life starting in my youth until now when I was older,” said Arteaga.
Helen is the daughter of Ecuadorian parents and grew up in Corona, Queens.
In June 2009, Helen was part of a group that founded Corona’s first community center, Plaza del Sol. Around 29,000 families come to this center each year for low-cost health care regardless of their immigration status.
The idea came when her father passed away from leukemia at Elmhurst Hospital and Helen witnessed the difficulties of navigating the healthcare system as an immigrant.
“I did not want anyone else from my town to suffer as I suffered, ‘you know’ (you know), one to lose his father,” added Arteaga.
Elmhurst Hospital has had to deal with the stigma of the long lines of patients arriving at the hospital at the beginning of the pandemic, causing fear among the community. Helen, who was a patient at this same hospital and was hospitalized for the coronavirus, wants to ensure that the hospital continues to provide medical care to those most in need.
This includes ensuring that the capacity of the 554 beds is not exceeded by cooperating with other hospitals.
“The hospital will always be ready and there is always a bed, if there is a patient who enters through these doors there will always be a bed, there will always be a doctor,” said Arteaga.
Among her plans for the future, Helen says she wants to expand vaccination services within the hospital for all Queens residents and continue to educate the neighborhood about the importance of getting vaccinated.
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