Deneen Richmond Is Leading Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center To Success

By Kia Lisby

Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center, formerly known as Doctors Community Hospital, located in Lanham, Maryland, recently welcomed Deneen Richmond in Nov. 2020 as the new president of the medical center.

Richmond was born in Washington D.C. but her family moved to Prince George’s County when she was still an infant. She is currently a Bowie resident but has lived in many cities within the county including Palmer Park, Capital Heights, Clinton, Largo, and Mitchellville. She is a product of the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) system and a proud Eleanor Roosevelt High School graduate.

At Roosevelt, Richmond enrolled in the science and technology program. She enjoyed taking science courses but realized she had a passion for helping people and business.

Taking into consideration all the things she enjoyed, Richmond decided to start her career by obtaining her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of the District of Columbia. She then took her first job in nursing at The George Washington University Hospital. “I actually took my first job in nursing at George Washington University Hospital because it was my intent, as I did, to enroll in their master’s program in health administration. That’s where I have my master’s from,” said Richmond when explaining that she worked full-time and attended school part-time to obtain her degree.

Throughout her collegiate nursing journey, Richmond had many mentors and people who supported and helped her along the way. She now wants to be that person for others. “I’m blessed to have so many people that have supported me and now I view it as part of my responsibility to be there and provide that level of support to others both on a one-on-one basis and to the community as a whole.”

Richmond says her motivation stems from wanting to make a difference in people’s lives. “What motivates me is being able to play a pivotal role in making a difference for others. I get an opportunity to do that one student at a time, one patient at a time, but also one community at a time.”

Starting in the role as acting president in September 2020 and appointed as the permanent president in November, Richmond reflects over that last few months, “Becoming president of a wonderful organization like this, no matter how well prepared you think you are, [it’s] always going to be a challenge. And then, just quadruple those challenges, doing [so] in the middle of a pandemic.”

Richmond’s day consists of making sure her team has all the resources they need to provide care for every patient that comes through their doors as well as making sure that needed supplies are readily available. In addition, she focuses on what her team needs to provide to the community that they serve while she works on forming the necessary relationships with business partners, government officials and community members to help fill the gaps in areas of greatest need.

She often tells her team that “It is a privilege to be here and have the opportunity as well as the responsibility to serve the community.”

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Although Luminis Health Center’s communities have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the center makes time to support and recognize the healthcare workers at the facility. The executive leader’s care for her staff goes beyond the workplace. “We’ve also been making sure that we are fully supporting them. It’s not just about keeping them safe here at work, but also recognizing that they are parents, they have adult and elderly parents and grandparents, they have kids.” said Richmond.

Richmond describes herself as a compassionate and serving leader, “I’m here to serve my team and remove those barriers and give them the resources and tools that they need to provide care,” said Richmond. “I’m also here to serve and respect people and to provide them with compassionate care.” She makes it a priority to focus on health disparities that impact communities surrounding the hospital.

Luminis Health has partnered with Reid Temple AME Church to offer a community-oriented vaccination site. Luminis Health has also partnered with the Prince George’s County Health Department, City of Hyattsville government and First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville to offer COVID testing. First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville has served as the testing site since June 2020.

In relation to behavioral health care, Luminis Health has partnered with County Executive Angela Alsobrooks’ office and the Prince George’s County government to establish a full continuum of behavior health services by December 2021. It will include substance use disorder and mental health services. In a few months Luminis Health will also be submitting a certificate of need bid to the state of Maryland to establish adult in-patient behavioral health services.

Additionally, the medical center will be submitting a certificate of need to establish a women’s pavilion and deliver obstetrical care in the county in hopes of having expectant mothers choose to give birth within the county rather than outside of it.

Under Richmond’s leadership, developing new programs and services will become standard. “What the community can expect is for us to get better, to continue to engage with the community, and continue to meet the community’s needs,” she says.

As a woman of color in her position, Richmond, although she considers herself an optimist, says she isn’t naïve to the realities of society. “If someone has a problem with me as a woman of color, that’s their problem. That’s not my problem.” she says.

Richmond keeps her goals as her priority. “Short term, I want to make sure that I continue to support my staff and that we help this community to address COVID and get beyond this pandemic.” She also wants to focus on offering the obstetrical and behavioral health programs by the end of the year.

“My other goals are to really expand our community partnerships so that we are addressing the community’s needs and then address health care disparity and equity issues.”