Page 30 - Healthcare Heroes 2025

HealthcareHEROES
A P R O G R A M O F B U S I N E S S W E S T & H E A L T H C A R E N E W S
Lifetime Achievement
He’s Pioneered
an Innovative
Model of
Care for the
Incarcerated
By George O’Brien
obrien@businesswest.com
Optimism.
Keisha Williams says these are just some
Passion. Empathy. Compassion. Leadership.
of the qualities that Dr. Thomas Lincoln
brings to his groundbreaking work every day.
“He’s very passionate about this population,” said
Williams, responsible health authority and director of
Nursing for the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office, who
has worked with Lincoln for more than 25 years now
as he has devoted much of his career to improving
access to care for those impacted by incarceration.
“He’s accessible, and he’s dedicated; there’s nothing
“People are very appreciative just
to be seen and taken care of in a
manner that’s the same as what
would be done on the outside.”
Dr. Thomas
Lincoln
Physician and Associate
Professor of Medicine,
Baystate Health
he won’t do to assist someone or support someone
and provide needed guidance.”
Lincoln, a physician at the Brightwood Community
Health Center in Springfield and medical director of
the Hampden County Correctional Centers, pioneered
an innovative, nationally recognized public health
model of healthcare for incarcerated individuals,
one that not only ensures high-quality care during
incarceration, but also supports a safe and successful
transition back to the community — an initiative that
has demonstrably improved outcomes and removed
barriers to reintegration.
This model and the continuity of care it created
has earned Lincoln national accolades, including the
W. Lester Henry Award for Diversity and Access to
Care from the American College of Physicians and the
Armond Start Award for Excellence from the American
College of Correctional Physicians. But for Lincoln,
the far greater reward is seeing the results achieved
by this work; the manner in which it is has become a
model for other communities, including Washington,
D.C., to emulate; and the gratitude of the inmate
population.
“People are very appreciative just to be seen and
taken care of in a manner that’s the same as what
would be done on the outside,” he noted. “There’s
plenty of need — you feel the need, and it feels
worthwhile to do this.”
H30
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