Page 6 - 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
Collaboration in Healthcare
The Andy Yee Palliative Care Unit
From left, Dr. Laurie
Loicono, Peter
Picknelly, Tony
Ravosa, Sarah Yee,
Dr. Philip Glynn, and
Tim Stanton.
Inspired by a Lifetime of Giving, They Gave
the Region Something in His Name
By George O’Brien
obrien@businesswest.com
As BusinessWest spoke with several in-
dividuals about how the Andy Yee Pallia-
tive Care Unit at Mercy Medical Center
was conceived and eventually became
reality, they took turns gesturing toward
one another and saying, “if wasn’t for ... this never
would have happened.”
It was said about Tony Ravosa, ‘Uncle Tony,’ a
close friend of Yee’s, who doggedly raised money
for the unit, conceived soon after Yee succumbed to
pancreatic cancer in 2021.
It was said about Dr. Philip Glynn, the oncologist
(and a Healthcare Hero himself in 2022) who cared
for Yee during his illness and became inspired to do
something to bring a new level of care to the region
in his honor. He is now co-director of the unit with
Dr. Laurie Loicona.
It was said of Tim Stanton, regional vice president
of Philanthropy and chief Development officer for
Trinity Health Of New England, Mercy’s parent
company, who quarterbacked the fundraising
efforts.
It was said of Yee’s wife, Sarah, who wanted to
do something to recognize the unique brand of care
provided to Andy in Mercy’s ICU in his final days
and bring it to more patients and families facing
difficult end-of-life issues.
But mostly, it was said about the person not in
that room, but whose spirit certainly was: Andy Yee
himself.
Indeed, all those gathered said creation of the
eight-bed unit, the only one of its kind in the region,
would not have been possible were it not for the
way Yee touched all those who knew him — from
customers in his restaurants to his nurses in the
ICU; from long-time friends and business associates
to former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, who
rushed back to Springfield from a Republican
governors’ meeting in Nashville, Tenn. to be at
Mercy the day Yee died — and seemingly willed
“This space was
created in Andy’s
spirit, and it’s
designed to focus
on enhancing
interaction and
time between
family and their
loved one at
some of the most
difficult times in
people’s lives.”
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