Healthcare Heroes at IOL
Two leaders at the Institute of Living were named Healthcare Heroes for their work on behalf of mental health education at the Annual Meeting for the Connecticut Hospital Association in June 2016.
Harold I. (Hank) Schwartz, MD, IOL psychiatrist-in-chief and vice president of the Hartford HealthCare Behavioral Health Network, was recognized for his state and national leadership in crafting public policy and launching a national dialogue on mental health following the Sandy Hook tragedy. Jeanne Kessler, RN, a nurse manager at the IOL, was recognized for a variety of work, including her studies and treatment of dementia patients and her extensive work with and education of volunteers, including establishing a patient safety/fall prevention program (resulting in an 80 percent decrease in falls), a geriatric visitation program for those with dementia, and the Meal Mates program. She also was recognized for piloting a new volunteer program, Personal Touch, to determine whether or not having a multi-trained volunteer assigned to a specific unit for an entire shift is more effective than having a variety of volunteers.