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PROVIDENCE, RI – Governor Dan McKee today announced his appointment of current Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals (BHDDH) Director Richard Charest to serve as the next Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). The Governor has sent Charest’s name to the Rhode Island Senate for advice and consent.
“Since his arrival at BHDDH, Richard Charest has made significant strides and improvements, including the opening of a new state psychiatric hospital and ensuring that Eleanor Slater Hospital is on a positive and stable path,” said Governor McKee. “His steadfast leadership, coupled with his decades of experience in the health care industry, will be a tremendous asset as he serves as EOHHS Secretary. I’m honored to appoint him to this important role, and I know he will lead with distinction.”
“I appreciate the confidence Governor McKee has placed in me, in nominating me as EOHHS Secretary,” said Director Charest. “This very important role allows me to implement over 30 years of experience to support the growing and evolving healthcare needs of Rhode Islanders. After serving nearly two years as Director of BHDDH, I have become familiar with the opportunities and challenges we face across state government. The work of our employees, legislators, and caregivers is significant, and immeasurably important to the success of Rhode Island. I look forward to expanding my collaboration with stakeholders and building relationships that promote innovation to strengthen the continuum of care.”
Charest has more than 30 years of experience in the health care sector, leading not-for-profit and for-profit community hospitals with specialty programs and a for-profit specialty hospital. Previously serving as President and CEO of Landmark Medical Center, Charest successfully led hospital operations and finances through receivership, reassured the community and engaged employees and medical staff to ensure uninterrupted high-quality care. He also served as President and CEO of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island and held several executive leadership positions with Landmark Medical Center. Charest has served as BHDDH Director since 2021.
Ana Novais, who has been serving as Interim EOHHS Secretary since the departure of Womazetta Jones, will return to her role as Assistant EOHHS Secretary.
“I’m grateful for Ana’s willingness to step up and serve as Secretary during this interim period,” said Governor McKee. “During her tenure, we successfully worked across government to return to normal operations from the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively implement a distribution strategy for the funding received from the opioid settlement and her decades of experience and commitment to equity ensured that we had a budget proposal and programs that were reaching Rhode Islanders where they are and who needed it the most. I look forward to her partnership as she continues to play a key role on the EOHHS team.”
“I am proud of my tenure at EOHHS and of the team that we’ve built for this past year,” said Assistant Secretary Novais. “I thank Governor McKee for the opportunity to serve as Interim Secretary and I look forward to continuing to work with him and the team at EOHHS servicing our Rhode Island families and communities with the guiding principles of voice, choice and equity, at the core of the work we do.”
Dr. Louis Cerbo, Deputy BHDDH Director, will serve as Interim BHDDH Director until a permanent selection is made.
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PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is announcing that its seasonal 24-hour telephone information line will open May 15 and remain open until Oct. 15. The Bay Line, 222-8888, is toll-free within the state.
The Bay Line provides Rhode Islanders with a central point of contact to leave a recorded message about any sign of bay-related environmental problems or occurrences throughout the summer season for appropriate follow-up by DEM. Its aim is rapid, effective responses to environmental incidents on Narragansett Bay. Another option for reporting concerns is through email at DEM.bartline@dem.ri.gov.
Reports of water quality conditions are updated weekly and available on the DEM website. The information is compiled from data provided by a network of monitoring stations in the bay that measure oxygen, temperature, salinity, pH levels, and, in some cases, water clarity and the presence of algae blooms. DEM, in cooperation with the University of Rhode Island (URI), has completed the seasonal deployment of monitoring instruments and posts water quality reports on a weekly basis.
The intent of Bay Line is to provide an effective means for exchanging bay-related information between the public and the agencies charged with monitoring and protecting it. For instance, the line can be used to provide DEM with early warnings about emerging issues such as algae blooms, which might serve as precursors to low oxygen events and fish kills.
The Bay Line is an integral part of a series of initiatives undertaken by DEM to protect Narragansett Bay. A related initiative is the Bay Assessment and Response Team (BART), which is designed to facilitate timely and well-coordinated responses to any major bay-related environmental emergency. BART includes professional staff from DEM, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), and URI. Rhode Islanders can find a great deal of bay-related information on the BART page of the DEM website. The weekly Bay Line reports also can be found at this location.
For more information on DEM programs and services, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@RhodeIsland.DEM).

High School Students from across the country compete for a $20,000 Grand Prize, May 9-10
Providence – Classical High School junior Natasha Connolly will represent Rhode Island in Washington, D.C., for the 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals, May 9-10. In March, Connolly, won the 18th annual 2023 R.I. Poetry Out Loud State Championship with the recitation of “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved,” by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib. She is also a 2023 Youth Poet Ambassador.
At the Poetry Out Loud championships, Connolly will join state winners from throughout our country to compete in regional semifinals. Connolly’s regional contest will be held on Tuesday (May 9) at 9 a.m. George Washington University. The winners of the regionals advance to the Finals on Wednesday (May 10) at 7 p.m.
Visit the 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals Facebook Event page for the latest information on the competition. https://fb.me/e/2BYpAhz8D. The competition will be streamed live at https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud.
“We wish Natasha the best of luck and thank her for all of the hard work and hours of preparation she put in to represent our state in a competition that requires learning, connecting and commanding of poetry,” said RISCA’s Executive Director, Lynne McCormack. “RISCA is a proud partner of the NEA’s and the Poetry Foundation’s arts education program that inspires a life-long appreciation of great classic and contemporary poetry.”
A total of $50,000 in awards, and school or organizational stipends will be awarded at the National Finals, including $20,000 for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion, and $10,000 and $5,000 for the second- and third-place finalists. The Poetry Foundation provides and administers all aspects of the monetary prizes awarded for Poetry Out Loud. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals are administered by Mid Atlantic Arts.
On March 6, 12 R.I. high school students, representing schools from around the state, competed in the state’s Poetry Out Loud competition at the Greenwich Odeum. Prior to the competition, competitors spent most of the school year studying poetry through learning, memorization and performance.
Beginning at the classroom level, winners advance to a schoolwide competition, then to the state championships, and ultimately to the national finals in Washington, D.C. Since its inception, 3.6 million students from 14,000 high schools nationwide have participated in Poetry Out Loud.
Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, a partnership with RISCA, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation, is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. For more information, visit Poetryoutloud.org.
National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. For more information, visit NEA website. www.arts.gov.
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative partnerships, prizes and programs.