Martha’s Vineyard Hospital honors employees for excellence

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Members of the hospital maternity department with their award. — Photo by Heidi Wild

Martha’s Vineyard Hospital held its annual Partnership in Excellence Award ceremony on Friday, April 27. The event honored four employees and two department teams for leadership and innovation, and for quality treatment and service dedication.

The awards are particularly significant for the recipients because award nominations come from co-workers and fellow hospital employees, hospital chief executive officer Tim Walsh said.

Partners HealthCare, the Boston-based health care system, established the award program in 1966 to recognize workers and teams at all levels that contribute to Partners’ success in any of its member institutions, which include Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and its parent corporation, Mass General Hospital.

Friday afternoon, hospital officials presented awards to four employees on the frontlines of health care in the Windemere Nursing Home and the hospital Emergency Room and two teams, the Maternity Department and Patient Financial Services. The recipients and excerpts from the nomination letters follow:

Emergency department nurse Martha Bischoff

“She has a natural ability to place one at ease and comfort, sometimes with just a simple smile, a thoughtful touch, a knowing word, a warm hug,” Gail Everhardt, nursing administrator, wrote on her nomination entry. “For these reasons, nursing has often been referred to as an art. But indeed, within the often chaotic environment of the ER, this art is balanced by her outstanding clinical skills and expertise that offers her patients the best possible outcome.”

Brooke Emin, Windemere rehabilitation aide and certified nursing assistant

“Brooke is an incredible example of what it means to have compassion, a strong sense of teamwork and work ethic,” wrote Liz Salvo, Windemere co-worker. “Each day, she truly gives 100 percent of herself to the residents at Windemere, whether it is to assist with mobility and strength [exercises], to answer a call bell while passing by, or just to play a friendly game of cards because it makes the residents smile.”

Kesia Oliveira, Windemere certified nursing assistant

“She is very hardworking and always upbeat,” wrote co-worker Hallie Hughes. “She proves herself over and over again while caring for residents. She is efficient, knowledgable and kind. She helps her co-workers whenever they are in need. I believe she always goes above and beyond the jobs.”

Dr. Jeffrey Zack, emergency department director

“Dr. Zack made a lot of changes in the workflow of the ER department resulting in a more efficient ER and more productive output,” said radiologist Crisanto Tactaquin. “He has great patient reviews too as an ER physician. As a co-worker, he is a great leader and able to relate very well with his staff.”

Maternity Department (team leader Joyce Capobianco, Sandra Ciciora, Mary DiMattia, Carla Furtaw, Melissa Harding, Donna Hayes, Nancy Hugger, Bozena Michalczuk, Rachel Neville)

“The nurses in the Maternity Department provide a unique and individualized approach to care for patients in their department,” wrote Carol Bardwell, in her nomination entry. “They have been successful in making the labor-delivery-post partum rooms as homelike as possible.”

Ms. Bardwell wrote of team leader Joyce Capobianco, “No one is perfect, but her staff agrees that in her professional capacity, as leader of the maternity unit at MVH, she comes as close to perfect as one would want.

“Joyce came to a unit five years ago that struggled with the typical aches and pains of a very small rural unit. Staffing was unpredictable, many nurses lived off-Island and traveling nurses filled gaps at great expense. Accountability in staffing and between disciplines was lacking. Joyce had her work cut out for her. As a leader, one of her biggest strengths has been leading in word and deed… Joyce is constantly on the hunt to learn for the unit, and to keep nursing to the highest standards.”

Patient Financial Services (team leader George Fitton, coordinator Norie Collins, patient counselor Eileen Willet)

“When Partners made a strategic decision to terminate its contract with Network Health for the state subsidized Commonwealth Care insurance product, this team worked tirelessly to preserve coverage and continuity of care for Partners 5,900 patients affected by the change,” Partners said in the award nomination. “This was an extremely challenging situation with many opportunities for patients to fall through the cracks, but these employees prevented that from happening.”

Friends, well-wishers, and hospital employees attended the ceremony in the hospital vestibule Friday afternoon.

“The Partners in Excellence awards provide us with the opportunity to recognize the dedication, talent, and teamwork of our employees in our pursuit of excellence in caring for the healthcare needs of our community,” Mr. Walsh told The Times. “Being a part of a world-class health care system is particularly rewarding for a small, rural, critical access hospital. Congratulations to this year’s recipients.”