Celebrating Greater Hartford’s Health Care Heroes

In a turbulent year marked by loud debates over health care policy reforms, it’s easy to get lost in the economics of who’s paying how much for what medical service.
Still, at its fundamental level, health care is really about patients and doctors, health and wellness, life and death decisions. It’s about compassion and knowledge, expertise and high-tech equipment. Increasingly, it’s about electronic medical files. But it’s always about human beings.

And the real healthcare heroes are the people who go beyond “do no harm” and make things better.

The Hartford Business Journal’s 2010 Health Care Heroes celebrated in this special section are an extraordinary mix of skills sets. They were nominated by co-workers and clients and others who know their work, and selected by independent judges, based on an established criteria. Though their roles may differ, they share a deep passion for the health services they provide and an appreciation that their efforts are making a significant difference in the lives of others. It is what motivates them. It’s what marks them as heroes.

In this year’s group, one recurring theme is a willingness to embrace change. We have a medical entrepreneur who expanded while others contracted and a CEO who says her greatest strength is refusing to take “no” for an answer. We have a self-made man who’s using his wealth to make sure poor and uninsured black men receive prostate cancer screening and a doctor who’s using his understanding of technology to blaze a new path. We have doctors who volunteer on their days off, nurses who go the extra mile and administrators who really care.

While the health care debates in Washington and Hartford rage around them, they’re taking care of business at a level that makes a difference today.

This fall, the Hartford Business Journal has reported on a number of trends in medicine – from hospital consolidating and looking inside for savings to a market environment where family physicians and small practices are endangered species. Ongoing negotiations pit hospitals and insurers in a pitched battle over finite resources. Over the horizon lie a series of tough decisions on the level of payment for Medicare and Medicaid services, on Sustinet and Husky plans, on the business exchange and medical home concepts.

Perhaps the ancient curse – ‘may you live in interesting times’ – has new meaning in 2010 Connecticut and beyond.

Whatever the future holds for health care, we can count on the best efforts of our health care heroes – this year’s class, those who have gone before and those who will follow.

Congratulations, heroes. We’re glad you’re there when we need you.

Stories by Kevin Moore, contributing editor, and Lisa D. Bell, contributing writer

Meet This Year’s Winners:

Advancements in Health Care - INNOVATION
Kimberly Beauregard, InterCommunity Inc. 

Advancements in Health Care - PREVENTION
Curtis Robinson,
C&R Development Co. Inc. 

Community Service – ADVOCACY/POLICY
Ellen Rothberg,
VNA HealthCare

Corporate Achievement – INNOVATION
Mike Gerstenfeld,
imedcenter.com

Volunteer
Dr. Theresa Caputo,
Malta House of Care Mobile Medical Clinic

Physician
Dr. Scott J. Ellner,
Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center

Nurse
Marylouise Welch,
Saint Joseph College

Click HERE for information about the judges