During a recent public forum in Hartford a local, high-profile hospital executive warned that the healthcare system remains too costly and inefficient, but that doesn’t stop doctors, nurses and other caregivers from performing miracles each day.With all the negative attention this year surrounding hospital budget cuts and corresponding reductions in services and staff, it’s been […]
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During a recent public forum in Hartford a local, high-profile hospital executive warned that the healthcare system remains too costly and inefficient, but that doesn't stop doctors, nurses and other caregivers from performing miracles each day.
With all the negative attention this year surrounding hospital budget cuts and corresponding reductions in services and staff, it's been very easy to overlook the many good deeds Connecticut's healthcare industry performs to heal the sick and comfort the afflicted.
Indeed, the work our state's healthcare institutions perform daily saves lives.
This week, we are honoring eight Health Care Heroes in Greater Hartford, who are making a difference in our community every day. Many of our winners this year care for cancer patients. Others are helping the poor and disenfranchised access healthcare services once thought to be out of reach.
In the pages of this special section, you'll meet a physician whose passion for hand hygiene helped one local hospital reduce its risks of healthcare-associated infections.
You'll also meet a home healthcare agency, which for years has developed innovative ways to help care for people at home.
Our judges — Angela Mattie (Quinnpiac University), Elizabeth Krause (Connecticut Health Foundation) and Ellen Andrews (CT Health Policy Project) — 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 chief physician executive at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, who is researching new targeted drug treatments to treat cancer more successfully with less harm to patients.
We profile a CEO who has made it her life's work to champion the rights of mental health patients.
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
View the Healthcare Heroes Digital Edition
Profiles of 2015 Healthcare Heroes
Dr. Fernando Ferrer, CT Children's Medical Center
Heather Gates, president and CEO, Community Health Resources
Dr. Pauline Olsen, co-founder Malta House of Care
Dr. Jack Ross, Hartford HealthCare
Rebecca Santiago, RN, Nurse Navigator
Ruth Satterberg, Occupational Therapist
Elaine Scheinblum, RN, onclology nurse
Photos from the 2015 Healthcare Heroes awards event (registration required)
