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Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) honoured staff, physicians and volunteers of the organization recently with the presentation of the Alliance Awards of Excellence and the Compassionate Caregiver Award of Distinction.
The Alliance Awards of Excellence are now in their 14th year, while the Compassionate Caregiver Award is now in its 11th year.
The Alliance Awards of Excellence recognize staff, physicians, volunteers and teams who exemplify performance excellence within and beyond the healthcare environment.
The Compassionate Caregiver Award of Distinction honours an individual or team who exemplifies Patient and Family Centred Care and works to advance quality of care while demonstrating unconditional compassion and respect.
Karen Millard earned the Compassionate Caregiver Award. She has worked at CKHA as a registered nurse for more than 18 years.
In 2015, Millard joined the Palliative Care Unit where her compassionate and caring nature helps patients, families and staff on a daily basis.
With an ability to look past the illness and see the person, she makes patients and families feel respected and heard during the emotional end-of-life conversations she encounters every day.
Her perceptive intuition puts patients and their families at ease as she provides support and meets them in the grieving process.
Winners of the Alliance Awards of Excellence are:
- Vision Award: Dr. Mahmud Rajabalee, Chief and Program Medical Director of Medicine.
- Mission Award: Nancy Kay, Director, Quality, Risk, Professional Practice and Medical Affairs.
- Values Award: Ellen MacDonald-Beacock, Speech Language Pathologist.
- Team Award: Medication Reconciliation Team (Pharmacy Technicians: Sarah Cowley, Connie Newman, Pauline Quirion, Janice Patrick-Millyard, Pamela Seney, Lynda Wiebenga, Paula Coleman, Edie Pratt, Jamie Hanuszak, Jennifer Baxter, Natasha Fuller, Meaghan Meloche, Kim Plyley, Penny Jenkins, Alison Bowles, James Whiteye, Vanessa Gagen, and Pamela Smith).
“On behalf of staff, physicians and volunteers at CKHA, I am pleased to congratulate the nominees and recipients of this year’s Alliance Awards of Excellence and Compassionate Caregiver Award of Distinction,” Lori Marshall, President & CEO, CKHA, said in a media release. “These long-standing awards represent the continued excellence and compassion that our people exhibit in the delivery of high quality, Patient and Family Centred Care.”
This year’s recipients were selected from peer nominations by a panel of staff and past honourees.