Staci Roberts Named New Director at AccessHealth Spartanburg

May 20th, 2022

Staci Roberts, a longtime Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System employee, has been named the fourth Director of AccessHealth Spartanburg. Roberts comes to the new role after 19 years in various roles with SRHS, most recently at the Gibbs Cancer Center, where she managed community outreach and education efforts. 

“I really developed a passion for the community in that role,” Roberts said. “A lot of what we were focused on was on making cancer screenings widely available to the community, and through that work, it became very clear that we really needed to focus on the under-resourced populations in our community. I really want to do all I can to help that population.”

Roberts is taking a measured approach to her first weeks at AHS. Rather than coming in with a preconceived idea about how things work, where the needs are and what might need to change or improve, Roberts said she is going to spend a lot of time initially listening and learning. 

“I’m a good listener and observer, and I’m not one to make assumptions or quick decisions,” she said. “I am going to take the time to learn what other people are doing, both AccessHealth employees and all of our partners. I am really looking forward to learning about what everyone does and how I can help them.”

One area she is already well-versed in is one of the most stubborn barriers to care many people in Spartanburg, Union and Cherokee counties face: transportation. It is an issue AHS and its community partners have been grappling with for years.

“At the cancer center, I had experience with some of the same issues that AccessHealth has been working on with transportation,” Roberts said. “So I know that remains a huge challenge that, as a community, we need to continue to work together to solve. I don’t want anyone to be at a disadvantage in getting the care they need so they can build the life they deserve just because they can’t get to where they need to be.”

That perspective and experience made Roberts a perfect fit to become the new leader for AccessHealth Spartanburg, said Carey Rothschild, the Director of Community Health Policy and Strategy for SRHS. AccessHealth is a foundational program of SRHS’ Community Health department and Rothschild herself served as Director at AHS from 2011-2018 before moving into her current role.

“Staci’s experience serving this community and her experience in the trenches, working to help identify and address the barriers to care that people face made her the ideal person to lead AccessHealth into its next phase of growth and development,” Rothschild said. “This program is an essential part of the ecosystem that has been built along with many other organizations and partners to address health equity in Spartanburg, Union and Cherokee counties. Staci has a passion for that work, and I am excited to see where she will take AHS in the coming months and years.”