Alice Bonner recently became director of the bureau of health care safety and quality at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health after a long career as a nurse practitioner.
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
ALICE BONNER | G Force
A higher level of care
Alice Bonner recently became director of the bureau of health care safety and quality at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health after a long career as a nurse practitioner.
(David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Alice Bonner, 52, is a career nurse. In recent years, she has specialized in caring for the elderly as a nurse practitioner and as executive director of the Massachusetts Senior Care Foundation. But last month, she traded in her stethoscope for policy briefs to lead the bureau of health care safety and quality at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. It’s a big job, because Bonner ultimately is responsible for making sure that thousands of patients in the state’s hospitals and nursing homes receive safe, responsible care. Many of her staff members spend their days inspecting health care facilities and reporting back to her. Bonner lives in Westborough with her husband and two sons, ages 18 and 25.
LIZ KOWALCZYK
Q. How will your experience as a nurse help you in your new job?
A. My background as a nurse is over 30 years. I’ve worked in ICUs, emergency rooms, and nursing homes. I’ve taken care of patients on the front line. I’ve been in unions. It’s extremely helpful when you’re looking at broad policies, to reflect back on how they would affect the patients you’ve known over the years. I was a practicing nurse practitioner right up until the day before I took this job.
Q. What was your longest nursing job?
A. For the last 20 years, I have been a nurse practitioner at the Fallon Clinic in Worcester; for seven years I coordinated the long-term care program. Nursing homes are places where people live for a long time. We [at the health department] want people to be able to say to their families, “When I’m ready I want to go to a really nice nursing home,’’ not, “Please don’t send me to a nursing home.’’
Q. Our health care system is celebrated for its top specialists and advanced technology. What are the weaknesses in medical care in the state?
A. One of our major weaknesses is our tendency for a long time to work in silos. Our greatest weaknesses have to do with communication between different entities, hospitals, nursing homes, doctors; and in care transitions, when patients go from hospitals to nursing homes, for example. But we’re on the case, and we have a plan [to improve].
Q. What do you plan to focus on first in your new role?
A. Breaking down those silos. Across all settings, I think there are opportunities to make improvements.
Q. Do you miss your patients?
A. Terribly. The nursing home where I worked, even though they’re nervous about my new role, said I could come by anytime.
Q. What advice do you have for nurses working in the trenches, about how to stay fresh, given the cost pressures in medicine and the increasingly difficult problems faced by patients?
A. Nurses need to continue to seek out leadership roles and roles in health policy at the local, state, and national level. Nurses have historically had a major impact on improving patient care, not only at the bedside but in the State House as well.
Interview was condensed and edited. 
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