HBJ's Healthcare Heroes awards: A focus on patient care

Photos | Contributed Dr. Wolf has helped oversee a Suboxone program at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, which is a medication-assisted treatment program for addicts.

Greg Bordonaro Editor

Patricia Baker

Angela Mattie

John O’Connell

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Improving care quality is a major focus in the healthcare industry these days.

That means trying to keep patients healthier — through efforts like better preventative care — so they can live longer and more enjoyable lives, while also reducing the nation's escalating healthcare costs. It also means trying to keep patients more relaxed and informed when they do need to go to a physician's office or the hospital.

Indeed, improving patient care is a major theme for our 2018 Healthcare Heroes honorees.

Our winners this year run the gamut from a physician who is reinventing care coordination at community health centers across the country to a nurse who is filling a new role at a major hospital that aims to comfort and guide patients and families during times of crisis.

Our honorees also include a mayor/physician focused on building a healthy community in South Windsor, a retiring hospital CEO who leaves behind a legacy of innovation, and a doctor focused on preventative care, among others.

Collectively, their efforts are doing a lot to improve the health of and patient experience for many people in our community.

Our judges — Angela Mattie (Quinnipiac University), John O'Connell Jr. (C.M. Smith Agency Inc.) and Patricia Baker (Community Health Foundation) — played a key role identifying our Healthcare Heroes. Using standard criteria, they voted on nominees in seven different categories ranging from nurses, physicians and healthcare staff to industry leaders and organizations that made advancements in healthcare prevention and innovation.

The judges were particularly adept at finding innovative organizations like the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, which is working to better integrate medical and behavioral health care for its patients.

We recently honored our Healthcare Heroes at a Dec. 6 luncheon at the Hartford Marriott.

Our heroes were nominated by those who know their work the best — co-workers, clients, etc. 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 Healthcare Heroes.

Greg Bordonaro | Editor

Judges

Patricia Baker, president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation.

Angela Mattie, chair and professor at Quinnipiac University's School of Business, department of healthcare management and organizational leadership and a professor of medical sciences at Quinnipiac's medical school.

John O'Connell, president and senior managing partner of C. M. Smith Agency LLC, an Alera Group Company.