Healthcare Achievement Awards
2019
Stories by chloe Teasley, Evan Weese and Kathy Lynn Gray
When it comes to healthcare, central Ohio is rich. We’ve got four highly regarded health systems supporting our families with quality medical care, contributing billions annually to the economy and employing more than 45,000 people, according to Columbus 2020. So it isn’t difficult to find heroes among the professionals who tend to our sick, advance technical discover-
ies, collaborate on ways to keep our population well and safeguard our most vulnerable neighbors. Among this year’s class of Columbus CEO Healthcare Achievement Award winners, the seventh annual, are a daredevil nurse who has spent decades saving lives flying at 2,000 feet in a helicopter; a pharmacy that’s blazing a national trail by offering free medications to the many people who can’t afford them; a “market”
+ Photos by Rob Hardin where food pantry clients have access to 900,000 pounds of fresh produce a year; and many more stories that make us sit back and marvel at the innovation, empathy, kindness and courage alive in the central Ohio community. You can find these tales on the following pages – I hope you’ll take pride in these heroes’ achievements. Katy Smith is the editor. March 2019 l ColumbusCEO
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Lifetime Achievement Award
Holly Herron OhioHealth Grant Medical Center flight nurse By Chloe Teasley Holly Herron, the daughter of a physician, was certain she wanted to be a nurse at 4 years old. She didn’t know, however, that she wanted to be a nurse caring for patients in mortal peril at 2,000 feet above the ground. That desire to deliver critical care quickened her pulse while she was a nurse in Grant Medical Center’s intensive care unit. During her first years there, Grant began a trauma program and started use of a Life Flight helicopter. Having realized she preferred to care for trauma patients in the ICU, Herron wanted to become a Life Flight nurse—an even more intense nursing experience. She cleared two hurdles that stood in her way—a minimum requirement for years of experience and her mother. She told her mother she was dead set on becoming a flight nurse regardless of the danger, and conveniently, Grant waived its requirements and actually sought her out to apply. She was selected as one of four in a sea of 2,000 applicants and she never looked back. “What I could do to impact that first link in that chain of survival was mesmerizing to me,” she says. Since, Herron has made caring for patients in a pre-hospital setting her life’s focus. Perhaps her greatest contribution to the field has been helping create remote helicopter bases placed to shave time from the critical “golden hour”—the window of time to provide lifesaving care to a patient who is critically injured or ill. Since the first base she helped set up in Wellston in 1986—just two years into her career as a flight nurse—the model has been replicated about 400 times throughout the country. Herron describes this achievement as one of the proudest moments of her career. The remote base brought
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“What I could do to impact that first link in that chain of survival was mesmerizing to me.” Holly Herron on the helipad at Grant Medical Center livesaving care 25 minutes closer to 43 percent of Grant’s service area by helicopter. “We were doing something that had never been done before,” she says. “Grant somehow would always stop and be receptive to innovative ideas that made sense for the patient.” During her time in Wellston and afterward, Herron also taught healthcare providers how to identify when someone needed the extra care that a larger hospital could provide. Throughout the span of her career, she has taught more than 106 paramedic education classes. One of Herron’s many students, now the program manager for OhioHealth Emergency Medical Services, says Herron is a remarkable teacher. Barbara Dean recounts her orientation to flight nursing spent with Herron. Prior to the eight-week orientation, Dean had no pre-hospital experience. “She has raised my
standards,” Dean says. “Holly has very high expectations of everybody that she works with. She, in turn, has made me have those high expectations of myself.” There are memories of experiences over her professional life that are burned into Herron’s heart. She recalls a time when a car crash left a pregnant woman broken and facing death—and although the mother died, the baby was saved. Herron got to see him four years later. Another time, a woman was shot in the abdomen. When Herron arrived at the small hospital, the woman clutched her, begging her to keep her alive. She bled so profusely that Herron promised nothing. Somehow though, says Herron, she and the flight medic moved so quickly that the woman survived. For the next 15 years, Herron received a Christmas card from her.
Finalists Lifetime Achievement Award Barbara Parker
LifeCare Alliance “Nurse Barb,” as Barbara Parker is known, found her life’s calling when she began as a community nurse for LifeCare Alliance 32 years ago. Since then she has worked tirelessly to live up to the organization’s motto: Taking care of those no one pays attention to. As a lead nurse and clinical supervisor, Parker gives wellness examinations, immunizations, foot and ear care and chronic disease management at three LifeCare locations, where she also links clients to nutrition and wellness programs. She volunteers monthly to provide foot care for the homeless and works as a faith community nurse at her church. Without her work, many people would go without life-saving medical care.
Dr. Thomas Davis (retired)
Riverside Radiology and Interventional Associates “Taking care of a critically ill or injured person at 2,000 feet is the most autonomous nursing job that exists. It’s the most meaningful, it’s the most empowering, it’s the most gratifying,” she says. Herron has retired from her 30 years of Life Flights with over 5,000 flights under her belt. Now, she is OhioHealth’s EMS director and Otterbein University’s undergraduate clinical coordinator. She teaches her life’s lessons to continue pursuing the fascinating notion that she can save people. “I couldn’t get enough of it and I still can’t get enough of it,” she says. “I love being able to touch healthcare providers in a way where they realize they can be part of making that difference for another person’s someone.” As a clinical coordinator, Herron has mentored more than 1,600 nursing students in 29 years.
Herron admits there isn’t much she hasn’t done professionally. Her No. 1 goal—to impart the same passion and sense of duty to prehospital care providers that she has herself—has been actualized over and over. But there is one thing left on Herron’s bucket list: to write a book that chronicles her profoundly heartbreaking and victorious experiences as a flight nurse. “To have I-71 North stopped with all the headlights in every direction— the waters part and you land,” she says. “You walk down the freeway that you’re not supposed to be able to walk on, and all the EMS providers are waiting for you to arrive because we have always been considered 911 for 911. There’s something captivating about that.” Chloe Teasley is staff writer.
As a vascular and interventional radiologist, Dr. Thomas Davis was an innovator in minimally invasive, image-guided procedures that helped patients with a variety of conditions for 30 years. The procedures allowed women to get pregnant after suffering with uterine fibroids or fallopian tube blockages; relieved debilitating pain in patients who otherwise might have needed surgery; restored blood flow for patients with peripheral arterial disease; and saved lives through stroke and aneurysm treatment. Davis’ efforts attracted clinical studies for patients and helped OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital become designated a first-class comprehensive stroke center. March 2019 l ColumbusCEO
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Practitioner of the Year
Dr. Randall Wroble Orthopedic Surgeon
Orthopedic One By Evan Weese Dr. Randall Wroble has touched the lives of countless athletes in Ohio and across the country over the course of more than 30 years as an orthopedic surgeon.
“We as a profession are very involved with the community, and my relationships with all those people have become so rewarding.”
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He’s even reached a certain celebrity status—not quite to the level of Michael Jordan, he jokes—and gets recognized at the grocery store or out in the community. “Someone comes up and says, ‘Hello, Dr. Wroble, I don’t know if you remember me but 20 years ago you fixed my ACL and I’m doing great, and it’s so good to see you.’ It’s kind of cool to see that, it makes you feel good,” he says. “We as a profession are very involved with the community—with teams of different sorts, with athletes, coaches, athletic trainers—and my relationships with all those people have become so rewarding and so widespread.” During his career, Wroble has served the needs of more than 40 athletic organizations at the high school, col-
legiate and professional level, including the Columbus Blue Jackets and Columbus Quest Women’s Professional Basketball. Today, he balances a roster of annual events such as the Ohio High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Championships in addition to serving as the team physician for 11 teams, including Ohio University, Grove City High School and Otterbein University. On top of the commitment required to treat and care for those athletes, Wroble is a practicing surgeon with Ohio’s largest orthopedic group, Orthopedic One. That doesn’t mean he’s spreading himself too thin. “Besides the fact that he’s an outstanding leader, he’s accessible to us,” says Deborah Moore, senior director of compliance and sports medicine
for the Ohio High School Athletic Association. “Whenever we need anything—if we need a consult, we need advice—we reach out to him and he’s always available to consult with us. And that’s really valuable.” Wroble’s career stems from his own sports injury. He tore his ACL playing football at Cornell University and saw an opportunity to improve safety and treatment for athletes at all levels. Decades later, he still loves the competitive atmosphere of athletics. Wroble supports and leads a number of committees dedicated to improving the health and safety of young athletes, including with his roles as chairman of the Joint Sports Medicine Committee of the Ohio State Medical Association and Ohio High School Athletic Association, and as chairman
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Congratulations Patrick M. Jeffries
Volunteer of the Year
2019 Columbus CEO Healthcare Achievement Awards Licking Memorial Health Systems
www.LMHealth.org
of the Columbus Medical Association’s Sports Medicine Committee. He works with stakeholders ranging from legislators and administrators to coaches, trainers and athletes, identifying and addressing critical issues such as concussion protocols, emergency action plans and preparticipation evaluations. Wroble helped establish a statewide program for required weight assessments in wrestling and sudden death protocol for high school athletic programs. These sorts of efforts reach the lives of many beyond the teams he is directly affiliated with. “It basically comes down to the fact that he’s here to serve young people who participate in sports here in Ohio and, of course, across the nation,” Moore says. “We feel blessed that as an athletic association we have access to somebody like Dr. Wroble.” He has received numerous accolades for his work, including being named a 2013 “Top Doc” in sports medicine by U.S. News and World Report and has been on Columbus Monthly’s Top Doctors list each year since 2015. In 2013, Wroble received the Columbus Medical Association’s Greg Brooks Award, given annually to a central Ohio sports medicine practitioner who provides advisory assistance and education for the public and medical community on healthcare for the amateur or recreational athlete. Wroble says he’s proud to have helped come up with the concept for OhioHealth Sports Medicine, which has grown to become the largest sports medicine organization in the state. Amid a remarkable career impacting thousands of athletes, Wroble is perhaps toughest on himself, offering a bit of honest self-evaluation. “As I look back and say, was my work-life balance a little askew? I would say, yeah, it probably was,” he admits, adding, “I love what I do, I love going to work every day.” He says new opportunities, like joining Orthopedic One five years ago, have kept things fresh. And he’s a joy to work with, colleagues say. “He’s a really nice guy,” Moore says. “And that’s the kind of person that we like to work with, that we’re used to working with. It makes it easy to develop a relationship.” Evan Weese is a freelance writer.
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Finalists Practitioner of the Year Martha Simmons
Columbus Cancer Clinic Nurse practitioner Martha Simmons has become integral to the work of the Columbus Cancer Clinic during her four years with the program. Besides giving cancer screenings, coordinating patient care and connecting patients with essential self-care services, Simmons keeps current on cancer trends, screening guidelines and protocols so she can share that knowledge with her patients and the clinic. Her six-month project for the clinic’s breast and cervical cancer prevention and early detection program has produced better follow-up with patients. Simmons, a nurse for 50 years, also provides screenings at health fairs and community clinics and has become some clients’ primary healthcare provider.
HEALTHCARE TRAILBLAZER 2019 HEALTHCARE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
CONGRATULATIONS
CHARITABLE PHARMACY OF CENTRAL OHIO Since 2010, Charitable Pharmacy has provided innovative and compassionate care to more than 6,100 vulnerable patients in central Ohio.
Thank you for being a valuable and in our community.
Dr. Shilpa Padia
Mount Carmel Medical Group Besides her work as a compassionate, caring breast surgeon, Dr. Shilpa Padia is a pioneer in the treatment of breast cancer. Last year she began using a new treatment option that provides radiation at the same time as a lumpectomy for certain older women, reducing treatment time and providing fewer side effects. She also trains physicians to lessen visible scars after surgery and is co-medical director of Mount Carmel Health System Breast Cancer Services. Her work in the community includes participation with Walk With a Doc, Susan G. Komen Columbus and a local breast cancer support group. She received her medical degree from Northwestern Ohio Medical University. March 2019 l ColumbusCEO
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Volunteer of Year
Pat Jeffries CEO
Licking Memorial Health Systems By Kathy Lynn Gray When Pat Jeffries joins an organization, he doesn’t do it for bragging rights or to burnish his resume. Rather, the Licking County native immerses himself in the group, rolls up his sleeves and puts himself to work doing all that he can to make a difference, says Robert Montagnese, CEO of Licking Memorial Health Systems. “My father told me a long time ago,” says Jeffries, 74, “that you have a short life and you can either pass through or
“I wanted to stay here and make a difference. Family and happiness mean a lot more to me than being a millionaire.”
F i n a l i s t Volunteer of the Year
Grove City Cancer Thrift Shop, Columbus Cancer Clinic For 49 years, proceeds from the Grove City Cancer Thrift Shop have helped cancer victims, first through the American Cancer Society and more recently through the Columbus Cancer Clinic. The independent, nonprofit store at 3684 Garden Court is open five days a week and staffed entirely by volunteers such as Betty Lewis, above, who open the store for 20 hours a week and spend many hours beyond that preparing donations and consignment items for sale. Through its efforts, which include recycling ink cartridges and working with several store rewards programs, the group has donated more than $1 million to the clinic, the oldest free cancer clinic in the United States.
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you can leave a footprint and make an impact while you’re there.” He’s chosen to leave numerous footprints through volunteer work he’s been doing for decades. It started while he worked for 38 years as director of learning and development for State Farm, continued during his two-year tenure as academic director at Central Ohio Technical College and has accelerated since his retirement at the age of 60. “Pat has been committed to Licking County his entire life, and he truly exemplifies the spirit of the community in a giving and meaningful way,” Montagnese wrote when he nominated Jeffries as Volunteer of the Year for the 2019 Columbus CEO Healthcare Achievement Awards. “Pat has given his time and talents selflessly, help-
ing to fulfill the mission of LMHS by working to improve the health of the community.” Jeffries has been involved with Licking County Hospital for years, joining its development council soon after its creation in 1987 to help raise money for the hospital and serve as a conduit between the community and the health system. He and his wife, Linda, were honorary chairs of the council’s golf gala in 2010 and Jeffries led the Community Cornerstone Campaign for several years and was a chairman of the golf gala committee. He served as chairman of the hospital board for nearly a decade before joining the board of the health system, where he has been a member for eight years and recently served as chairman. “Our organization has had a lot of successes
during his involvement and he’s been very important to those successes,” Montagnese says. “I’d say he’s played a crucial role.” Among those successes: The hospital has been named one of the top 100 hospitals in the country 12 times by Truven Health Analytics and was recognized as one of the safest hospitals in the country from 2016-18. Also in 2018 the health system was named one of the 150 best places to work in healthcare. The 227-bed nonprofit hospital has served the community since 1898. The health system includes the hospital, a physician corporation and the health foundation. Jeffries has deep ties to the hospital and to the area. He was born in the hospital’s previous building and all three of his children were born in the
current hospital. Although he was offered higher-paying jobs in other communities over the years, he declined them all, choosing to remain where he grew up. “I wanted to stay here and make a difference,” he says. “Family and happiness mean a lot more to me than being a millionaire. This is home to me, where I know a lot of people. It’s a tradeoff, but I love this community.” Jeffries also has shared his time with numerous other community organizations, serving in leadership positions for the Licking County Chamber of Commerce board, the Newark Rotary Club, Licking County United Way, the Midland Theatre board, Central Ohio Technical College’s Business Advisory Board and Newark City Schools board. He’s also led the Licking County
YMCA Board, the Private Industry Council, the Licking Knox Goodwill and Licking County Operation Feed. For the past 16 years he’s freelanced as a management, human relations and leadership consultant. Montagnese says Jeffries is known for his caring attitude, keen sense of humor and wit, and his relentless dedication and passion for the causes and organizations he supports. Jeffries says he’s humbled and honored by the Columbus CEO award. “I don’t do these things for the recognition or the rewards,” he says. “I do them because they’re the right thing to do. But to have someone recognize you for the things you do, that’s really a pleasant surprise.” Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer. March 2019 l ColumbusCEO
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Healthcare Trailblazer
Jenni Seifert Executive Director
Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio By chloe teasley Livingston United Methodist church is a refuge of two kinds—spiritual and physical. For about 1,500 Columbus residents, the pharmacy housed inside
“A lot of what we try to do here is increase hope.”
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it is a literal lifeline. The Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio has been dispensing free medications to central Ohio’s most vulnerable residents since 2010. Jenni Seifert, the pharmacy’s executive director, describes the pharmacy as a local answer to a national medication access crisis. The Charitable Pharmacy started as a response to 2008 research that said 149,000 Franklin County residents were going without needed medications—medications for such lifethreatening illnesses as hypertension, diabetes, mental health conditions or asthma. Seifert says while the Affordable Care Act and other measures have changed the healthcare landscape for the better since 2010, when the Charitable Pharmacy opened, problems remain. Just because a patient is able to see a doctor does not mean she is
able to fill much-needed prescriptions. “They cannot get their medications, so they give up,” says Seifert. “A lot of what we try to do here is increase hope.” Seifert tells a story about a woman who participated in a focus group conducted by the pharmacy. The woman described the agony of going to her doctor and receiving her prescriptions but being unable to fill them because she was uninsured. They would collect on her counter instead, where the woman would make mental notes of all she should be taking. Through the Charitable Pharmacy, the woman has finally received the medications she has memorized. Seifert tells another story about a patient who was missing work at her part-time job for the local government because of a breathing disorder. She
Healthy partnerships create healthier communities
Congratulations to Holly Herron, DNP, recipient of the Columbus CEO Lifetime Achievement Award in Healthcare! At OhioHealth, we believe it takes all of us, working together, to keep our communities healthy. One of our key partnerships is collaborating with, educating and supporting our area EMS. We are grateful to Holly for her leadership of these efforts. Holly is the system program director of OhioHealth EMS and the clinical coordinator in Otterbein University’s undergraduate department of nursing. She uses her 35 years of experience as a critical care nurse, flight nurse and paramedic to elevate the quality of emergency services in our community. Thank you, Holly!
Learn more at OhioHealthEMS.com
Š OhioHealth Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. FY19-286264. 02/19.
Finalists Healthcare Trailblazer Kimberly Hulsey
Columbus Cancer Clinic As the first certified community health worker for the Columbus Cancer Clinic, Kimberly Hulsey spends many days in local neighborhoods raising awareness about breast cancer, convincing women to have mammograms and other cancer screenings and making health-care providers and residents aware of the services offered by the clinic. A licensed practical nurse, she’s also developed a volunteer training program for the clinic, manages its medical supply and wig rooms and provides outreach in minority communities. As a breast cancer survivor herself, she has made helping others fight the disease a personally satisfying career choice. The Columbus Cancer Clinic is located at 1699 W. Mound St.
Dr. Mysheika W. Roberts
Columbus Public Health As health commissioner for Columbus Public Health, Dr. Mysheika W. Roberts leads a team of nearly 500 public health professionals who address issues ranging from safe housing to violent crime. She’s spearheaded efforts to address gun violence in neighborhoods and provide trauma resources quickly after homicides, and she has been instrumental in the community’s efforts to reduce its high infant mortality and battle its opiate epidemic. In her 16 years in public health, she has pushed for more equitable healthcare and, as health commissioner, instituted innovative initiatives to protect and improve the health of the more than 1 million residents of Columbus and Worthington.
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was connected with the Charitable Pharmacy and received the inhalers she desperately needed. Now, the woman is a full-time employee with insurance and no longer needs the services of the Charitable Pharmacy, which serves households at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline. For 2019 that equates to $24,980 for single people and $51,500 for a household of four. “That’s the ideal story,” Seifert says. “When we can truly become that bridge that allows that patient’s health to increase.” One of the biggest tragedies, Seifert says, is Columbus’ vulnerable residents don’t feel part of the community. They are trying to be responsible with their health, but they are unable to access the necessary tools. “One of the hardest things we deal with is when people feel like they’re on the fringe,” she says. “They’re trying so hard but they are excluded from what is really the way we should treat people.” The Charitable Pharmacy takes that into account with each patient visit. Seifert believes the pharmacy’s most innovative practice—and the one that has earned it national recognition—is the 20-minute consultation a resident pharmacist or student has with each patient to discuss how they are feeling about their medications, how to be successful in taking them and even how to get off some of them. The average eight medications each patient takes can be overwhelming. The pharmacy’s supply of drugs comes from one local long-term care facility and national distributors like PharMerica and AmeriCare Home Health that make charitable donations. In 2018, the Charitable Pharmacy dispensed about $6.7 million in medications to central Ohio residents, most of whom were around the age of 60. The pharmacy is supported by 12 employees and over 300 volunteers. In addition to dispensing medications, the Charitable Pharmacy conducts and publishes research, and it offers placement to five interns per month and to pharmacists in residency through its experiential education model. “It always, from the beginning, had an educational perspective, which I think is important in terms of educating pharmacists and social workers around the needs of folks who may not be the folks they come across during their normal training cycle,”
Livingston United Methodist Church houses the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio says Jerry Friedman, a retired healthcare professional and health policy adviser for Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who serves on the Charitable Pharmacy’s board. He recognizes the innovation happening at the pharmacy. Being involved with the organization “made a lot of sense to me, so I worked actively within [OSU’s] structure to get some buy-in from the university. It struck me that it was important,” he says. The Charitable Pharmacy is looking to take its successful model elsewhere in the community, maybe sometime in 2019. Because the 2,000 square feet of space offered to the pharmacy by the church will be hard to replicate, the new space will be a spoke coming off of the Livingston Avenue hub. But the need is ever-present and the state of national healthcare doesn’t make things easy, says Seifert. “When we feel proud of what we do, we recognize that we are only affecting about 4 percent of the patients who reported not having prescription medications,” she says. “We and our board of directors [ask], ‘Are we effectively reaching the areas that need us?’ We are effectively getting patients here from those areas but there are certainly still patients that need our help.” Chloe Teasley is staff writer.
Join Columbus CEO in congratulating the 2019 Healthcare Achievement Award honorees.
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Executive of the Year
Melissa Wervey Arnold CEO
Ohio Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics By Evan weese The Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has touched the lives of 865,000 children under the leadership of Melissa Wervey Arnold. During Arnold’s 13 years at the helm, she has innovated programs, education and offerings to help the association’s more than 2,900 pediatricians provide optimal care for children across the state. As the chapter and its impact have grown—it is the third-largest of 66 chapters nationally—so too has the industry’s respect for Arnold, who also serves as executive director of the related Ohio American Academy of Pediatrics Foundation. “She is truly a leader and innovator in pediatric health at the state and even national level,” says Dr. Michael Gittelman, president of the Ohio AAP Board of Directors. Arnold previously served as director of development for New Directions Career Center and as director of communications and education for the Ohio Psychological Association. It’s those experiences, she says, that primed her to run the Ohio AAP, just as the organization was looking for its first full-time executive director to build up the brand. And build she has. The chapter’s operating budget has grown by 800 percent in the past decade, and Arnold has helped develop relationships to secure funding partnerships supporting over $18 million in children’s health programs. Among her many successes, Arnold helped to develop and implement
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programs on major pediatric topics including obesity, immunizations, injury, mental wellness, vision screening, smoking cessation and teen issues. She convened the appropriate stakeholders, Gittelman says, in order to bring the programs to the pediatric offices of all members, free of charge. In addition to her innovative approaches to supporting the academy’s membership, Arnold has worked with state legislators and relevant agencies to ensure children are safe and healthy, including by helping to pass a booster seat law in Ohio. With the approach of a public company CEO, Arnold sets measurable goals for each employee and ensures the organization is demonstrating return on investment for programs. For example, the Ohio AAP’s bike helmet safety awareness campaign, Put a Lid On It, has delivered a potential return on investment of more than $1.24 million, based on the finding that a $10 bike helmet saves the healthcare system $41 per child. What’s less measurable is her mentorship of young staff. She is always looking for opportunities to help those around her elevate their knowledge and careers to the next level. “I think the biggest thing I try to do is recognize where people’s talents are, and take that talent, and find their passion, and put it to work,” she says. “I’m big on relationship-building.” Those who work with Arnold say she has a special ability to assemble and inspire teams. “She is great at listening to others, but {also} really giving her input and saying, great point {but} maybe we should also think of it this way,” Gittelman says. “She’s never confrontational; she’s always inclusive.” The organization used to have about 15 different committees, Gittelman recalls. After reading a book called Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations, Arnold shared it with the board of directors, which ultimately led to a restructuring of the organization to incorporate pillars instead of committees. The work represents more than just a job for Arnold, who says being a mother shapes her perspective in the case of immunizations and other critical pediatric issues. “To me, it’s personal, it’s something that I truly believe in,” she says. “I
think it’s a whole different experience when you’re [working for] a missiondriven organization.” When she started at Ohio AAP, the organization had the equivalent of two full-time employees. Today, she leads nine employees and 25 contractors and has helped the chapter earn the Outstanding Very Large Chapter Award from the National AAP for three times. The chapter not only survived more difficult economic times, but grew and thrived under Arnold’s guidance. During her tenure, the operating budget has increased from $300,000 to more than $2.7 million. National AAP C-suite executives and physician leaders call upon Arnold to advise them on issues with state chapters, staff, programs, education and pediatric industry trends. “I think I have grown probably as much as the organization, just being surrounded by the amazing team we have,” Arnold says of her time at the helm. “It’s my job—it’s what I do—but it’s what I love doing.” Evan Weese is a freelance writer.
F i n a l i s t Executive of the Year Charles Gehring
LifeCare Alliance Charles Gehring has earned considerable success during his 17 years as president and CEO of LifeCare Alliance. The organization has tripled the number of clients it serves, increased fundraising from 4 percent to 25 percent of the agency’s revenue, raised $7.2 million to purchase and renovate a warehouse and reduced the agency’s reliance on government money. Gehring spearheaded the group’s Success Model, which allows it to meet the needs of clients without a waiting list, and helped transform the Meals-on-Wheels delivery system to improve quality while reducing costs and employee turnover. The endowment he helped build will support the alliance for years to come.
“To me, it’s personal, it’s something that I truly believe in.”
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Pathway to Population Health
Matt Habash CEO
Mid-Ohio Foodbank By chloe teasley Matt Habash has been at the helm of the Mid-Ohio Foodbank for pretty much his entire career. He became the 4-yearold food bank’s CEO in 1984, when he was just 27. He also did a pretty important stint as a member of Columbus City Council from 1993 to 2006, serving as council president from 1999 to 2006. He says he has viewed both roles—political and social—as ways to serve the community. In his role as the foodbank’s CEO, Habash has grown the organization from a 3 million-pound-a-year food bank to 70 million pounds. And now, 67 percent of that food is fresh. But those numbers aren’t how Habash benchmarks success. He’s interested in helping people live better, healthier lives, and he brings creativity and empathy to the challenge. The Mid-Ohio Foodbank didn’t always have a focus on fresh food. In 2011, Habash was asked to lead a three-day summit on the agency’s role in the community. Attendees met inside the food bank’s hulking Grove City building. The action step taken from the summit: Figure out how to offer more fresh food. It wasn’t hard to find. Each year, six to seven billion pounds of produce in the U.S. go unsold and uneaten. Of those billions, Habash said only about 350 million pounds were being distributed by the 200 food banks in the Feeding America network. His charge: Get 1 billion pounds of longer-storing “hard goods” (potatoes, carrots, apples, etc.). Rather than asking people to make their way to a faraway destination to pick up their produce, or to wait until the end of the month when food and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program resources are depleted, Mid-
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“We see our measurement of success now is not in meeting basic needs, but in having an impact on overall health.”
Riverside Radiology and Interventional Associates would like to congratulate Dr. Thomas Davis as a s
Award.
Dr. Davis has devoted 30 years of experience, dedication, passion and commitment to serving patients throughout central Ohio through the highly innovative subspecialty of Interventional Radiology. Your compassionate commitment to minimally invasive patient care will forever be appreciated and never forgotten.
www.riversiderad.com
Congratulates OHIO AAP
Melissa Wervey Arnold!
H E A LT H C A R E E X E C U T I V E O F T H E Y E A R Your leadership in obtaining $18 million in programs has enabled Ohio AAP to advocate, educate and empower 2,900 Ohio pediatricians and positively impact millions of Ohio children. The Ohio AAP Board and Team are PROUD to work with you!
ohioaap.org
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Ohio Foodbank opened a free freshfoods market inside the Church for All People on Parsons Avenue in March 2018. Habash wants people to feel like customers at all the food bank’s pantries so they come more often, which translates into distributing more fresh food. He plans to open similar markets in other neighborhoods, tailor-making them to fit each community’s needs. A story from a woman in a focus group left an impression on Habash. She said she couldn’t afford to shop at a food pantry. At first, her statement seemed baffling, but she explained her hourly job didn’t leave her with an option to make it to a food pantry during work hours. Part of the new strategy is to offer shopping hours that reflect whatever is needed for community members—be it 40, 50 or even 60 hours a week open. Food pantries typically keep regular business hours and sometimes are only open for half a day or a few hours at a time. Since All People’s Fresh Market opened, it has grown from distributing 600,000 pounds of produce, milk and bread per year to 2 million pounds. Originally, 9,000 households were
making return visits to the pantry. Now, that number is 56,000 households. On average, people are coming 2.3 times per month. That delights Habash. He says the key cards given to customers evoke a sense of membership that makes them visit more. “This is a healthcare strategy,” says Habash. “We see our measurement of success now is not in meeting basic needs, but in having an impact on overall health.” Habash also has partnered with Dr. Buhari Mohammed, CEO of Heart of Ohio Family Health, on diabetes research and the role food plays in health. Mohammed says Habash has had a lasting effect on the community and the field. “Matt’s visionary approach to holistic services has contributed to what we now say in central Ohio—food is actually medicine,” Mohammed says. Post-collaboration, there are health centers in the community prescribing fresh food instead of medicine for certain problems such as high cholesterol. Habash isn’t content to merely feed Columbus’ hungry—of which there are many. He’s thinking bigger. Thanks to the development of
in-house software called PantryTrak that Mid-Ohio Foodbank has deployed with some of its partner pantries, data has been gleaned that shows a decrease in blood glucose levels and an average of 10 pounds of weight loss for those taking advantage of the fresh produce. Habash has given the software to other food banks, hoping one day to show the data to Medicaid officials in a bid to secure additional funding for produce. After all, the more produce Medicaid recipients eat, the less the federal and state health insurance program has to spend on treating chronic diseases such as diabetes. “We’ve already proven it works,” he says. “It’s all evidence-based.” Perhaps Habash’s overarching goal for all food banks, including his, can be described as a revolution that remakes the system into one that puts customers first. Eventually, that could undo a lot of the harm segregation and poverty have done to central Ohio and beyond, says Habash. “Let’s look at it from a person’s perspective, not from our system’s perspective.” Chloe Teasley is staff writer.
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Finalists Pathway to Population Health
Ohio Opioid Education Alliance
Finding Innovative Solutions to Improve Health. Working Together to Achieve Health Equity.
Spearheaded by the Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County, the Ohio Opioid Education Alliance has raised more than $3.2 million to attack the state’s opioid epidemic. The emphasis is on education and prevention for parents and caregivers through a campaign that includes public service announcements, television and online advertisements, billboards and a website with the theme, “Don’t Live in Denial, Ohio.” Led by the Nationwide Foundation, 38 other organizations support the alliance, which began its publicity campaign locally in June and plans to roll it out throughout the state this year. Pictured above are ADAMH CEO David Royer, left, and Chad Jester, Nationwide Foundation president.
Mysheika W. Roberts, MD, MPH Health Commissioner 2019 Healthcare Trailblazer Finalist
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Central Ohio Diabetes Association Since 1968, the Central Ohio Diabetes Association has operated youth camps for children with diabetes to encourage physical activity, teach them to manage their condition and provide a place to meet others with their disease. Campers learn how to recognize high or low blood-sugar symptoms, injection techniques and how to monitor bloodsugar levels. Last year, more than 200 children attended the camps. To date, more than 1,500 children have learned how to live with Type I Diabetes through the association’s camps. Cathy Paessun, above, is the association’s director.
Sunday, April 7 Noon — 4 p.m.
NATIONWIDE HOTEL AND CONFERENCE CENTER
100 Green Meadows Dr. S. Lewis Center Get tickets at:
CbusWeddings.com #CbusWeddingsBoutique
March 2019 l ColumbusCEO
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Healthcare Achievement Awards 2019
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Columbus CEO is indebted to the eight healthcare leaders from diverse backgrounds who served as judges for our Healthcare Achievement Awards. The judges scored nominations based on specific criteria for each category. Accumulated results determine winners and finalists. With thanks for their invaluable contributions, we’re proud to partner with these judges: Bill Hardy, president and CEO
Equitas Health A primary care provider for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer/ questioning people. He received our Healthcare Trailblazer award in 2017 and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Health Care and Technical Services category.
Reed Fraley, retired COO
Primary OneHealth Recently retired chief operating officer of PrimaryOne Health, formerly known as Columbus Neighborhood Health Center. Fraley previously served as senior vice president of the Ohio Hospital Association and as CEO of the Ohio State University Health System.
Dr. Patricia Gabbe, pediatrician and pediatrics professor
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Bridget Gargan, executive director
Ohio Association of County Boards of Developmental Disabilities
Serves people with developmental disabilities. She is a former vice president of government affairs for the Ohio Hospital Association and worked for longtime Ohio House speaker Vern Riffe.
Teresa Long, retired
Columbus Health Department Retired as Columbus’ first female health commissioner, Long is now a special adviser on community engagement and partnerships for OSU’s College of Public Health. In 2018 she received our Lifetime Achievement Award.
Amy Rohling McGee, president
Ohio State University
Health Policy Institute of Ohio
She is also founder and director of Moms2B Ohio and won the Rising Above award, one of Columbus CEO’s first healthcare recognitions in 2013. She has spent most of her medical career battling infant mortality.
A nonprofit that provides healthcare analysis and information for state policymakers. She previously was executive director of the Ohio Association of Free Clinics. She serves on the Ohio State University Alumni Council.
dr. David Sabgir, cardiologist
Mount Carmel Clinical
Brent Mulgrew, retired executive director
Cardiovascular specialist at Mount Carmel St. Ann’s. He’s founder and CEO of Walk with a Doc, now operating in communities worldwide, and 2016 Columbus CEO Pathway to Population Health award winner. In 2015 he was recognized as a CNN Hero.
He was a 2016 Lifetime Achievement winner in our Healthcare Achievement Awards. He retired in 2014 after 42 years with the Ohio State Medical Association.
Ohio State Medical Association