Page 24 - Healthcare Heores 2021

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
HEALTH/WELLNESS ADMINISTRATOR
Alicia Ross
Medical Director, Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care
This Administrator Has
Leah Martin Photography
Over the past 30 years, she has changed countless lives, and not just those who come under her care. Indeed, as an administrator, she has been a leader, a mentor, and an inspiration to those she has worked with, primarily by challenging them to continuously find ways to bring comfort and, yes, quality of life to those in hospice care.
“Someone referred to Dr. Ross as a ‘pioneer,’ and I think that is a very apt term for her,” said Maureen Groden, director of Hospice and Palliative Care, adding that Ross has changed the way many think when they hear that word ‘hospice,’ and she has spent her career educating and innovating.
Alicia Ross says many people recoil at the idea of hospice without realizing what a benefit it can be.
Jennifer Martin, director of Operations and IT for Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care, agreed.
“As medical director, Dr. Ross has always been our go-to; she is the backbone of the hospice program,” she said. “In our weekly team meetings, she goes above and beyond to make sure we provide the absolute best care for every patient and every situation.”
Those sentiments certainly help explain why Ross has been named a Healthcare Hero for 2021 in the always-competitive Administration category. Over the years, that honor has gone to those who don’t simply manage, but lead; those who not only care for those in need, but inspire others to reach higher and find ways to continually improve that care.
Ross certainly continues that tradition.
Life-changing Decisions
Getting back to that word ‘pioneer,’ it is used to describe those who break new ground and blaze a trail for those who would follow.
As Groden said, that term suits Ross because of the way she studied hospice care and adopted best practices, but also because she sought to keep raising the bar in all aspects of this field of healthcare.
Been a Pioneer, a Mentor,
and an Inspiration GBy Mark Morris
rowing up in the Philippines, Alicia Ross always hoped to become a doc- tor. Her father, a dentist, had other plans and wanted his daughter to take over his practice.
“I didn’t want to go into dentistry, so I went into medicine,” Ross recalled. Shortly after graduating from Manila Central University and
passing her medical boards, she emigrated to the U.S.
In 1971, Ross joined the staff of Holyoke Medical Center, specializing in
hematology and oncology. At the time, she worked with cancer patients, with the single goal of healing them. But for patients with advanced cancers, doctors can often reach a point where there are no more treatment options. Ross understood those patients needed something else.
“It’s huge for the patient to be reassured they’ve done all they can do to fight their illness. It’s also just as important for family members because they will remember this for the rest of their lives.”
“We had to refocus our goal,” she said. “For those cases, instead of a cure, we would instead work toward comfort measures for the end of life and do our best to ease their pain.”
So began what could be called a new career for Ross, or at least a new, exhilarating, and rewarding chapter in a remarkable — and ongoing — career. In 1991, she would become the founding medical director of Holyoke VNA Hospice Life Care.
A24 OCTOBER 2021
2021 HEALTHCARE HEROES