Meet the Staff: Abby Gadbois

I am an avid knitter and occasionally dabble in dying my own yarn as well. I love having this both as a creative outlet and as a source of warm clothing for the winter. My current projects are a scarf for my sister, a pair of socks for my dad, and a sweater for myself.  

Tom, Nikhil, Rachel, a former coworker, and I worked for several months to create a comprehensive report on national and state policy trends related to a critical social determinant of health. It was an exciting topic for our team to dig into, with so many states and organizations doing incredible work in this area. From that research, we were able to frame the report around key trends and recommendations for how the client can be a leader in this arena. We recently learned that the client has been invited to present on this topic at a national conference, where they will share some of our findings with an even larger audience.

I love working with my coworkers. Everyone is incredibly smart, kind, and collaborative – which is important when working simultaneously across multiple complex policy challenges. Everyone is willing to pitch in and help anyone work through questions or barriers because we are all working towards the same goal: helping improve care for all.

Start with the big rocks, and don’t lose sight of your priorities.  

Imagine your day is an empty jar, and you are working to fill it with various tasks, responsibilities, and goals. In front of you, there are big rocks (important long-term goals, spending time with family/friends, and other priorities), pebbles (day-to-day things that need to be done), and sand (small unimportant and not urgent tasks). You could choose to fill up your entire jar with sand – and never get anything truly important done. Instead, start by filling the jar with the big rocks, and you will find there’s still space to add in the pebbles and sand to get them done as well.