Recognizing Excellence, Innovation – HCN, BusinessWest to Launch Healthcare Heroes Program

Over the past decade or so, those two words have become a national brand — a brand that symbolizes many things, including excellence, dedication, compassion, commitment, and much more.

Indeed, Healthcare Heroes has become the name attached to recognition programs created by business magazines, healthcare publications, health and wellness-related organizations across the country, and other entities, to honor individuals and institutions that stand out for the work they do.

That name has become part of the landscape in New York, California, Hawaii, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Utah, and many other states. And now, it is coming to Western Massachusetts.

Indeed, HCN and BusinessWest have launched Healthcare Heroes of Western Mass., a program to recognize excellence and innovation across the broad spectrum of the region’s healthcare sector.

The program will culminate in the Healthcare Heroes gala on Oct. 19 at the Starting Gate at Greathorse in Hampden.

Details concerning the program and the gala will be revealed on the pages of the two magazines — and their on-line daily news blasts — over the next several weeks. The editors at the magazine will soon convene a meeting of an advisory committee to discuss the program and help eventually determine everything from the categories in which individuals and institutions will compete, to the judges who will evaluate those who are nominated.

So as they say in broadcast media, stay tuned!

“Over the past several years, BusinessWest has created a number of recognition programs to honor individuals, groups, and institutions across this region,” said HCN and BusinessWest Associate Publisher Kate Campiti, citing, specifically, the 40 Under Forty program launched in 2007 and Difference Makers, initiated in 2009. “But after considerable discussion, it was decided that this region’s large, diverse, and critically important healthcare sector deserved a recognition program of its own.

“Indeed, while we have had several honorees from the healthcare sector in 40 Under Forty, and a few from that realm in Difference Makers, excellence and innovation in healthcare are sometimes difficult to assess and measure,” said Campiti. “Healthcare Heroes will provide us with a needed vehicle for identifying and then recognizing those who stand out in very crowded fields.”

While the specific categories for the competition have not been determined as of yet, the program will be designed to recognize both those on the front lines of healthcare and those in administration; those who focus on treating individuals, and those involved with prevention and wellness.

“Healthcare involves many types of professionals working in different ways to create a healthier region and improve the overall quality of life for people living and working in Western Massachusetts,” said Campiti. “This Healthcare Heroes program will be crafted to recognize this great diversity of care and the many ways people and individuals are making a difference.”

Nominations for the various categories will be gathered in the coming months, and they will then be evaluated by a carefully chosen team of judges, said Campiti. The winners will be profiled in both publications prior to the gala at The Starting Gate at Greathorse.

“This will be a welcome, needed recognition program for our region, the four counties of Western Massachusetts,” said Campiti. “The healthcare sector has been a vital source of everything from high-quality care for our residents, to jobs for area communities, to inspiration for those looking to bring innovation and higher levels of quality to their businesses. These individuals and institutions deserved to be recognized for the work they do.”