SUPERPOWER: Tenacity
Family Physician, Valley Health Services and Health Systems and Medical Director, Harmony House
Dr. Sydnee McElroy wears many hats, but as medical director for Harmony House in Huntington, she is a champion for the health and well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness. For years, she freely gave her time and heart to the people who came through the doors, giving them the care she could from a room at the day shelter with supplies she provided. Then, last year, Valley Health approached her and offered to set up an established site where she had been working, complete with staff, equipment, and supplies you’d find in any other walk-in health clinic.
McElroy knew she wanted to be a doctor after reading the book The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story, which explores the origins of viral hemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola. “I became obsessed with viruses and hemorrhagic fever, and I really wanted to go into medicine because I thought it was such fascinating work.” During a family medicine rotation, she saw people of all ages and at all points of life–delivering babies, working with the elderly and providing care in hospice settings. “So basically, the entire lifespan all in one day. And you can find a niche, which is how I’ve ended up now at Harmony House.”
As part of her residency, she worked in international resource-limited settings, including Honduras and Malawi, where she saw the similarities to domestic rural health settings. “There’s a lot of overlap in that you don’t have all the things you need. Your patients are really limited, and they have many barriers to achieving wellness.” Recognizing that people in these situations often have no choice but to take what they are given, whatever the quality, she became passionate about providing equitable care to people in need. “It’s about recognizing that, even if barriers exist, everyone deserves the same quality of care. You kind of have to fight against the idea that any help is better than no help and start from the basis that you deserve the same thing that people in resource-rich areas get every day—so how can you make that happen?”
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