Since stepping into her new role as CEO of Elmhurst Hospital earlier this year, Helen Arteaga Landaverde says she happily carries the weight of the responsibility of her role.

"I take every decision that I make at this hospital of what would my patient, what would the community person walking through this door feel and what does he or she need,” said Landaverde.

What You Need To Know

  • Helen Arteaga Landaverde was named the new CEO of Elmhurst Hospital in Queens

  • Landaverda is the first woman and first Latina to serve in the role

  • She’s using her experiences as a Corona native and as a COVID-19 survivor to guide her in her new job

The job is a milestone accomplishment for Landaverde, who's the first woman and first Latina to hold the position.  

She grew up in Corona to parents who emigrated to Queens from Ecuador. Elmhurst Hospital is where he father sought care before he lost his battle with Leukemia.

"I was very sad when I finally got to realize that disparity of income in our communities and I first saw it when my dad passed away when we didn't have access to health care. So, that was the spark of my advocacy work,” Landaverde explained.

The experience inspired Landaverde to co-found a health center in Corona that now serves nearly 30,000 families each year, regardless of their ability to pay.

Now, she's using her own experience surviving COVID-19, having been hospitalized at Elmhurst herself with the deadly virus, to guide the hospitals's pandemic response, leading a staff of more than 4,000 health care workers. All this while keeping an eye on making sure to widen the door of opportunity at the hospital so that others like her may follow.

"I think that's important, not only because I'm a woman, but also because I see the future of our community. I want Elmhurst Hospital to be a good representation of the communities we serve. I want people who walk in here to see themselves in their doctors, in their nurses,” said Landaverde

That’s something she sees as the first sign of trust.