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30 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | NOVEMBER 21, 2022 HEALTHCARE HEROES AWARDS 2022 Dr. Jerrold Kaplan Medical Director, Outpatient and Workers' Compensation Services and COVID-19 Recovery & Rehabilitation Services Ray Radovich Acquired Brain Injury Peer Mentor and Gaylord Sports Association Volunteer Adaptive Golf Instructor Wallingford, CT gaylord.org CONGRATULATIONS to our 2022 Healthcare Heroes Award winners Thank you for empowering our patients to Think Possible. R ay Radovich is a former Gaylord patient who has logged more than 1,000 volun- teer hours as an acquired brain injury peer mentor, providing support and acting as a resource for Gaylord's stroke and brain-injured inpatients. He is also an adaptive golf coach with Gaylord's Sports Association and an assistant in Gaylord's library. What have been your significant contributions to your organization in the past year? In 2011, I suffered a heart attack that put me in cardiac arrest for an hour. At Gaylord, I had to relearn the basics of everything. And that's why I come back each week: to give hope to those who don't know what the future holds. As a peer mentor, I am there to not only inspire and support brain injury and stroke patients, but also help them understand that recovery is not an overnight process. And as an adaptive golf coach, there's nothing better than hearing someone say, 'I never thought I would be able to do that again!' Tell us about a challenge in your job that you were able to overcome. Every patient here is going through a major life change. One patient cursed when I walked in his room, but he eventually opened up. His wife died and he was stressed about supporting his young son. I made it my mission to be his best cheerleader and later discovered how much my visits meant. How has COVID-19 changed the way you do your job? When the COVID pandemic put a temporary pause on hospital volunteers, we were asked to write a letter of encouragement that was distributed to anyone who would have bene- fited from seeing a peer mentor volunteer. H artford HealthCare-GoHealth Urgent Care is an urgent care provider that offers proprietary digital tools and enables access to on-de- mand care that is located directly within its patients' neighborhoods. What have been the organization's most significant accomplishments in the past year? During a global pandemic, our team was able to provide care to a record number of patients while simultaneously expanding our footprint, adding six locations from October 2021 to October 2022 in Hartford and New Haven counties. In addition to serving as an essential resource for the community to be tested and treated for COVID-19, we also provided urgent care services during a time when access to previous care options was heavily restricted. We also launched a new virtual Behavioral Health Talk Therapy in September 2022, to provide greater access to mental health resources — an area with critical demand and challenging accessibility. What's the organization's next major goal? Our priority is to continue building on our mission of providing patients with an unpar- alleled patient experience that is effortless, personal and connected. We will do this through the opening of new conveniently located centers, enhancing our Virtual Visit platform and developing new services that meet the needs of our region. Winner Category: Volunteer EMPLOYER: Gaylord Specialty Healthcare • TITLE: Volunteer peer mentor, Gaylord Specialty Healthcare; Volunteer golf coach, Gaylord Sports Association Winner Category: Urgent Care Operator Hartford Healthcare- GoHealth Urgent Care Ray Radovich