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Health Care Heroes 2012

 
Health Care Hero

Welcome to Health Care Heroes 2012

For the fourth year, Inside Business presents Health Care Hero Awards to honor those who epitomize the word “hero” in the delivery of health care to the community.

Through these awards we seek to salute excellence, encourage innovation, offer examples of best practices for others to emulate, raise awareness in the community, enhance the quality of health care, and recognize deserving individuals and organizations within the industry.

A panel of judges reviewed nominations we received from the public to select those we honor. They realize, as do we, that there are many others in the community deserving of recognition. We hope these awards raise awareness of the heroic work of the health care industry in Hampton Roads and encourage our readers to nominate a hero they know next year.

– Carol Lichti, editor
Inside Business

The heroes
The late Tom Pellegrino MD | Health Care Leader
Terri Babineau MD | Primary Care Physician
Jean Shelton MD | Physician Specialist
Thomas Bass MD | Advancements in Health Care
Ed Karotkin MD | Pediatrician
Norfolk Southern WellNS program | Corporate Wellness
Old Dominion University G.W. Hirschfeld
School of Dental Hygiene | Dental Hygiene Care
Gretchen LeFever Ph.D. | Corporate Achievements in Health Care
Angela Duke | Individual Achievements in Wellness
Audre Beth Pile | Health Care Staff
Cynthia Steger | Community Service - Individual
Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church | Community Service - Group
Jim White | Volunteer

The judges
Kathryn Barrett, medical journalist
Bennie L. Marshall Ed.D. RN, Department of Nursing and Allied Health,
Norfolk State University
Randolph J. Gould MD, Sentara Surgery Specialists - Leigh
Lucy Gibney MD, president/CEO, Dr. Lucy’s LLC
Lynne Zultanky, director, corporate communications and media relations, Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System

– Carol Lichti, Editor of Inside Business
Scroll down to meet the honorees.
Learn more about each honoree by clicking on her name or photo.

  • Advancements in health care - Thomas Bass MD

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    As a neonatologist at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, Dr. Thomas Bass has seen his share of babies who have died or who have become severely disabled because of brain damage they sustained during birth.

    A mother's uterus might not open wide enough, or a baby's neck can get entangled in the umbilical cord, cutting off oxygen to the brain, leaving the baby with severe brain trauma, or hypoxia.

  • Community Service - Group - Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Pastor Shelton Murphy

    Pastor Shelton Murphy

    The mission at Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Norfolk is to preach the word of God especially First Corinthians 6:19 - "Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?"

    Under the leadership of Bennie Marshall, a professor of nursing at Norfolk State University, the Norfolk church's health ministry brings health information and screenings to its 1,000 members Sundays after the service.

  • Community Service - Individual - Cynthia Steger

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Cynthia Steger isn't a doctor, or even officially in the medical field, but that hasn't stopped the heart attack survivor from educating women about heart disease.

    Her mission to spread the word about the illness started when she had a heart attack in 2004.

    Then 44, Steger was thin, very active and a healthy eater, so she was shocked after she finished a 5K race-walk event in Williamsburg and began to feel the classic symptoms.

  • Corporate Achievements in Health Care - Gretchen LeFever Ph.D.

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Gretchen B. LeFever sees her work through the eyes of a psychologist. Her passion for improving patient safety led her to health information technology.

    "If implemented appropriately, health IT can help improve patient safety," LeFever said.

    Each year, 200,000 U.S. hospital patients die from preventable medical errors and infections.

    "In most cases, the causes of these tragic deaths stem from basic human errors - not from breakdowns in complex medical decision-making," she said.

  • Corporate Achievements in Wellness - Norfolk Southern WellNS program

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Mary Pitman, manager of health promotion for Norfolk Southern Corp., said the goal of the company's wellness program is to make a healthy lifestyle accessible for those working for the railroad.

    "The purpose is to make a healthy lifestyle enjoyable," Pitman said. "When you have a healthy lifestyle you not only feel better, you are more productive."

    The WellNS program is based on four aspects of good health: get regular screenings, quit tobacco, get active and eat nutritious food.

  • Dental Hygiene Care - Old Dominion University School of Dental Hygiene

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Michele Darby, the school's chair, center, and other faculty.

    Michele Darby, the school's chair, center, and other faculty.

    An international pioneer, Old Dominion University's dental hygiene school never overlooks the underserved communities in its own backyard.

    Founded in 1969, the Gene W. Hirschfeld School of Dental Hygiene developed one of the first graduate programs in the field. Textbooks penned by its award-winning professors are required reading worldwide.

    The school is home to the only dental hygiene research center in the U.S.

  • Health Care Leader - The late Tom Pellegrino MD

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    As associate dean for education at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Dr. Thomas R. Pellegrino always had time for students.

    So, before he died late last year, students made time for him, organizing a living tribute to the neurologist, medical ethicist, mentor and, above all, teacher.

    A professor for three decades, Pellegrino turned his own cancer diagnosis into a learning opportunity.

    In September, a checkup revealed that malignant cells from a melanoma, excised about six years earlier, had spread to his liver and bones.

    The prognosis was bleak.

  • Health Care Staff - Audre Beth Pile

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    For Audre Beth Pile, being the children's bereavement coordinator at Bon Secours Home Care and Hospice is more than a job, it is a passion and a ministry.

    Pile began the program's Kidz 'N Grief and Mikey's Camp about 10 years ago when she, as a hospice coordinator, saw an increasing number of children experiencing the death of a loved one.

    "I was going to homes where there were children in the home with a hospice patient," said Pile, who has been working for Bon Secours Hospice for 23 years. "In some cases it was a grandparent and in some cases a parent.

  • Health Care Volunteer - Jim White

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Jim White's fitness studio business has been thriving in Virginia Beach. Each day he gives his clients insights into how to shape up their bodies and their overall health.

    It's not surprising that a trainer is motivated in a gym environment, but White desires to do more.

    "I wanted to give outside of that," White said.

  • Individual Achievements in Wellness - Angela Duke

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    For Angela Duke, educating people about cancer is not a job, it is a way of life.

    The community health educator at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital knows cancer all too well. She is a three-time breast cancer survivor.

    Her job is to get out into the community to educate people about prevention and early detection focusing on four types of cancer, skin, prostate, oral and breast.

  • Pediatrician - Ed Karotkin MD

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Dr. Ed Karotkin's level of energy both professionally and personally keeps him on the move.

    While most of his travels take him overseas with missions for Physicians for Peace, he makes time for ski trips and sailing in local waterways, too.

    Karotkin is a neonatologist at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters and a professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School.

    He's been affiliated with Physicians for Peace for more than 20 years. This is his second year as PFP board chairman.

  • Physician Specialist - Jean Shelton MD

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Dr. Jean Shelton works to develop services for children with disabilities from disease and traumatic injuries. She has been making a difference in pediatric health care in Hampton Roads for more than three decades.

    "One of the most wonderful things about practicing medicine is associating with patients who are inspiring, who challenge you to do your best, and working with other physicians and health care providers who are doing their best, too," Shelton said. "Out of those qualities come some wonderful experiences."

  • Primary Care Physician - Terri Babineau MD

    Posted: February 17, 2012

    Dr. Terri Babineau, left, the medical director of HOPES clinic at EVMS.

    Dr. Terri Babineau, left, the medical director of HOPES clinic at EVMS.

    Dr. Terri Babineau, the assistant dean for community outreach at Eastern Virginia Medical School, has proven herself a role model, even among her clan of community-involved students.

    Babineau serves as the medical director over the EVMS HOPES Clinic, a student-run free clinic for Norfolk residents on the school's campus. HOPES, the only student-run clinic in the state, just celebrated its first year of operation.