Organizations thrive when they have employees who go beyond the call of duty to satisfy customers.
Nowhere is that type of extra effort more valuable and important than in the healthcare industry, where one doctor, nurse, or volunteers’ decision to do more than is expected could mean the difference between life and death for a patient.
This week, we are honoring eight Health Care Heroes in Greater Hartford, who are making a difference in our community every day. One element that ties together many of our winners is their ability to work beyond their job description to keep patients safe, happy and healthy.
In the pages of this special section, you’ll meet a physician who is performing research on her own time to determine the most effective cancer screening for women with dense breast tissue, and a nurse who makes week-long, voluntary trips to third-world countries to provide free health care.
You’ll also meet a volunteer who has spent more than a half-century donating her time and efforts to a local hospital and a chief academic officer who has developed new ways for emergency personnel to respond to active shooter and mass casualty victims.
We also highlight a construction worker turned emergency care technician whose bright personality and warm smile offer comfort to patients facing traumatic incidents.
Our judges — Angela Mattie (Quinnipiac University), John O’Connell (C.M. Smith Agency Inc.) and Maryland Grier (Connecticut Health Foundation) — played a key role identifying our Health Care Heroes. Using standard criteria they voted on nominees in eight different categories ranging from nurses, physicians, and volunteers to industry leaders who made advancements in healthcare prevention and innovation.
The judges were particularly adept at finding heroes who are innovators, like the dean of the University of St. Joseph’s pharmacy school who developed a non-traditional curriculum that is training the next generation of pharmacists.
We profile a doctor who is using robotics technology to help MS patients live more productive and active lives, and a dietician who is reinventing the way children and employees eat at one local hospital.
Collectively, they are an impressive class of Health Care Heroes. We recently honored them during a Dec. 2 luncheon at the Connecticut Convention Center in downtown Hartford.
Our heroes were nominated by those who know their work the best — co-workers, clients, even significant others. They share a common passion for the services they provide and for the life-changing impacts they have on the lives of others.
We hope you join us in congratulating them. And remember, it’s not too early to start thinking about who you’d like to nominate for next year’s class of Health Care Heroes.
-Greg Bordonaro, Editor
Categories and Winners
Nurse: Kathy Aries, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center
Corporate Achievement (Healthiest Workplace): Claire Dalidowitz, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center
Volunteer: Lois Ehrler, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center
Health Care Staff: Randy Groop, Bristol Hospital
Community Service (Advocacy/Policy): Lenworth Jacobs, Hartford Hospital
Advancement in Health Care: Albert Lo, Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital
Corporate Achievement (Innovation): Joseph R. Ofosu, University of St. Joseph
Physician: Jean Weigert, The Hospital of Central Connecticut
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