Brown Deer, WI — Four dedicated leaders in community healthcare recently received Horizon Home Care & Hospice’s annual Touching Lives Awards. The 2013 honorees included film makers Michael Bernhagen and Terry Kaldhusdal, Milwaukee Health Care Partnership Executive Director Joy R. Tapper and recently retired Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital executive Paul Westrick.
Bernhagen and Kaldhusdal co-produced the award-winning documentary Consider the Conversation which examined America’s struggle with communication and preparation at life’s end and has been shown on nearly 400 public TV stations across the country. Additionally, the film was the catalyst for a new statewide initiative recently launched by the Wisconsin Medical Society to make advance care planning a standard part of patient care.
“Driving the bus and building it at the same time,” is an expression frequently used by honoree Joy Tapper to describe the intricate work and organic growth of the Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MCHP). A former health system executive, Tapper was sought by Milwaukee hospital CEO’s in 2007 to lead a fledgling consortium of hospital, community health center and public health leaders, committed to improving health care for Milwaukee’s medically underserved. Over four years and several major initiatives later, the MHCP has grown its scope from concept to a successful collaboration of private and public entities working together to improve health outcomes and reduce the cost of care in Milwaukee.
In his former role as Columbia St. Mary’s vice president of Mission Integration & Advocacy, honoree Paul Westrick has served on MHCP and in a number of other health-care leadership positions for more than 30 years. Westrick has been deeply committed to increasing health care access through his leadership at Columbia St. Mary’s, advocacy at the state and federal levels, extensive involvement with MHCP and volunteer service with the Wisconsin Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. His leadership of the MHCP’s Emergency Department Care Coordination program has yielded significant results in reducing avoidable emergency-room visits and connecting patients to medical homes.
The Touching Lives Awards were created in 2007 to honor those individuals who’ve made a lasting impact on improving the lives of others through their efforts. Past Touching Lives Award winners include former Wisconsin First Lady Sue Ann Thompson, executives Leo Brideau, Bill Petasnick and Pamela Parker; physicians; and hospice and palliative care nurses. The awards are presented at Horizon’s annual Matters of the Heart Gala. The event raises funds for the agency’s Grief Resource Center, the state’s only free walk-in center dedicated to grief, bereavement and healing.
Horizon Home Care & Hospice, a non-profit organization established in 1990, is the state’s second largest full service home care agency and hospice. Horizon, in partnership with Columbia St. Mary’s and Froedtert and Community Health, is licensed to provide home care and hospice services, Medicare and Medicaid certified and accredited by The Joint Commission. For more information, please visit http://www.horizonhch.org.
