Hartford Business Journal

HCH 10 Hartford Business Journal • November 16, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com HEALTH CARE HEROES 2020 HONOREE CATEGORY: PHYSICIAN Dr. Andrew Lim Medical Director of Emergency Services Bristol Hospital P rior to the COVID-19 pandem- ic, Dr. Andrew Lim received recognition for the most "Innovative ER" and "Physician In- novator" for efforts geared toward patient satisfaction and opioid ad- diction services. One of his ongoing projects is COBRA (City of Bristol Recovery Al- liance), which has brought together the efforts of the mayor, police chief and hospital with the goal of using medication-assisted therapies to help those with an opioid addiction. As part of the program, police officers are given the power to divert those who are in possession of narcotics to the ER for help with addiction, rather than arrest. During the summer of 2019, Lim continued his passion for helping those struggling with behavioral health issues by leading the con- struction of a 10-bed, 2,700-square- foot locked behavioral health unit exclusively for patients who are undergoing treatment for mental health and/or substance abuse condi- tions. During the COVID-19 crisis, Lim was responsible for developing poli- cies and protocols for Bristol Health physicians who would be treating COVID-positive patients. Under his leadership, the hospital created new spaces both inside and outside of the hospital to safely care for potentially infected patients. He also launched Bristol Health's drive-up COVID specimen collec- tion station. HONOREE CATEGORY: PHYSICIAN Dr. Megan Panico Medical Director, Critical Care Specialist Gaylord Specialty Healthcare D ecades before she became a pulmonologist and a critical care physician, Dr. Megan Panico was a 17-year-old patient at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare, the very hospital where she would be named medical director and critical care specialist only two decades later. She spent three months as an inpatient at Gaylord, undergoing intensive physical, occupational and speech therapies. It was the care she received at Gaylord that inspired her to first become a physical therapist and later attend medical school and become a pulmonologist. In addition to her clinical role at Gaylord, Panico has become a leader to the medical staff in all respects and is universally admired by staff for the time she spends in explaining her rationale regarding complex patient care. When COVID-19 hit Connecti- cut, Panico was instrumental in helping Gaylord with the care of some of New England's sickest CO- VID patients, some of whom she helped treat in her front-line role as a pulmonologist in the Hartford Hospital ICU. She was a tremendous resource for the Gaylord nursing staff and brought calm and clinical expertise to an extremely stressful and challenging situation that was literally evolving on a daily basis. Panico not only treats patients medically, but encourages them and celebrates their recoveries. Thank you Dr. Andrew Lim for leading our Emergency Center each and every day, and for leading us in the fight to protect our community during these unprecedented times. You've risked your health to care for us and have taken on new responsibilities to ensure we get through this crisis. You are the definition of a hero. We are so proud of you! Congratulations to our very own Health Care Hero Schedule an appointment today 833.4BHDOCS | bristolhealth.org Andrew Lim, MD Hartford Business Journal Health Care Hero

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