Yale New Haven Health Leaders Receive Excellence Award

Press release from Yale New Haven Health:

May 8, 2021

The United Hospital Fund (UHF) recently announced the winners of the 2021 Excellence in Health Care Award for Quality Improvement Champions, including five recipients from Yale New Haven Health. The award honors extraordinary leadership in improving quality of care, patient safety and patient experience. Honorees are selected for their vision and accomplishments by participating healthcare organizations from across the greater New York metropolitan region.

The 71 honorees were recognized at a virtual tribute event including: Shannon Christian, MSN, administrative director, Patient Care Services, Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, New London; Richard Martinello, MD, medical director, Infection Prevention, Yale New Haven Hospital/YNHHS, New Haven; Kisha Mitchell Richards, MD, director, Pathology and Clinical Laboratory, Greenwich Hospital; Zane Saul, MD, section chief, Infectious Diseases, Bridgeport Hospital; and Danielle Zawatsky, director, Quality Improvement & Safety, YNHHS.

“I am incredibly proud of the work Shannon and her teams have done to improve and enhance the quality of care and the overall experience we provide to our patients,” said Kerin DaCruz, MSN, chief nursing officer, L+M Hospital. “Her leadership, insight and persistence have allowed our organization to innovate and implement tactics that improve interdisciplinary commutation and collaboration. I want to personally congratulate her on this impressive accomplishment and recognition of all of her work.”

The Tribute to Excellence in Health Care was initiated in 2019 to recognize healthcare innovation and improvement aimed at achieving the highest quality patient care by UHF, an independent nonprofit organization with a mission to build a more effective and equitable health care system.

Lawrence + Memorial is a private not-for-profit, general, acute care hospital that has been serving patients since 1912. L+M is licensed for 280 beds, employs more than 2,000 people and serves 10 shoreline towns between Rhode Island and the Connecticut River, as well as the residents of Fishers Island, NY, in its primary service area. Now part of Yale New Haven Health, L+M is the only hospital in eastern Connecticut with a newborn intensive care unit. It is also the only area hospital able to perform emergency and elective angioplasty.

This press release was produced by Yale New Haven Health. The views expressed here are the author's own.