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HEALTHCARE HEROES | 2024 Awards HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 B3 Winner Category | Healthcare Staff Aneta J. Godlewski InterCommunity HealthCare Vice President of Care Optimization A neta Godlewski is a licensed professional counselor and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor who has been providing care to patients with mental health and substance-use challenges in the North End of Hartford for over 10 years. As an officer of healthcare compli- ance, Godlewski works to improve the patient experience by ensuring quality care and safety. What have been your significant contributions to your organization in the past year? It has been a busy year for our agency with multiple successful accreditation visits and having to navigate the chang- ing healthcare standards. I have been fortunate to work with people who have the same values of empathetic and safe patient care, collaborative problem-solv- ing, and respect. It is those values that brought us together in successfully implementing the 1115 waiver, passing the Health Resources and Services Administration operational site visit, and restructuring our programs to align them with what our patients' needs are. Tell us about a challenge in your job that you were able to overcome. Change is often difficult to manage, especially for the people we serve. e state of Connecticut has made significant changes to how substance-use care needs to be delivered. Over the last two years, I have led our agency efforts to be fully compliant with all standards, train staff, and obtain full American Society of Addiction Medicine certification for all our programs. We were able to manage this change by collabo- rative work of all of our staff and never losing sight of what is best for our patients. What's your next major goal and/or challenge? In addition to my continued efforts to improve the system of care for our patients, I also will be working on establishing a risk management program and a new training program for our staff, with special empha- sis on supporting new leader development. Personal side: Residence: Newington Favorite way to relax: Reading, traveling, and spending time with my daughters Hobbies: Reading, visiting museums, history Favorite movie: "Top Gun" Currently reading: "Elevate," by R. Glazer Winner Category | Healthcare Staff Fr. Adrian Budica Bridgeport Hospital Director, Spiritual Care and Education F r. Adrian Budica is the director of Spiritual Care and Education at Bridgeport Hospital. He oversees all chaplaincy staff and supervises the chap- lain residents and interns in the Clinical Pastoral Education program. What have been your significant contribu- tions to your organization in the past year? I try to embody our system leadership strategy, 'Leads with humility.' I believe we have a strong team of chaplains, who are often unsung heroes in their work. My most significant contribution to Bridgeport Hospital this past year has been aligning our spiritual care units under one shared vision. We provide exceptional spiritual care to staff, patients and family members. We also have outstanding clinical pastoral training to develop future generations of congregational leaders, chaplains and clinical pastoral educators. We are working to put all of that together. Tell us about a challenge in your job that you were able to overcome. Fragmentation of our department felt overwhelming at times. By putting spiritual care and education under one umbrella we were able to give our staff members a way to work together and support one another under a common vision — both our permanent staff, as well as our students (15 to 20 new interns and residents every year). What's your next major goal and/or challenge? e next major goal for spiritual care is expanding our 24/7 coverage to the Milford campus. We want to offer patients there the support they need, no matter the time of day, and make ourselves available to our staff in highly stressful situations. Personal side: Residence: Bethel Favorite way to relax: Swim, walk, music (or a mix of the 3); watching a movie or comedy like "Whose Line is it Anyway" and stand-up; prayer and church services come with the role Hobbies: Guitar, chess Favorite movie: "Wall-E," "Inside Out" Currently reading: "Children of Dune," by Frank Herbert; "Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the Twenty-First Century," by Drs. W. Cadge and S. Rambo; and "Suffering and the Nature of Healing," by Dr. Daniel Hinshaw Meet Connecticut's Healthcare Heroes C onnecticut's healthcare industry continues to go through challenging times, as hospitals and other providers face financial and numerous other pressures. But that hasn't stood in the way of frontline workers and others continuing to help patients in need. To recognize them, the Hartford Business Journal is present- ing its annual Healthcare Heroes awards. Our honorees this year run the gamut from physicians, nurses and volunteers to mental healthcare providers. We will honor our statewide Healthcare Heroes class of 2024 during an event on Nov. 7, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Farmington Gardens. You can register for the event online at hartfordbusi- ness.com. Our heroes were nominated by those who know their work the best — coworkers, patients, etc. ey share a common passion for the services they provide and life-changing impacts they have on the lives of others. We hope you join us in congratulating them. And remem- ber, it's not too early to start thinking about who you'd like to nominate for next year's class of Healthcare Heroes. — Greg Bordonaro, Editor Fr. Adrian Budica ....................................................... B3 Aneta J. Godlewski ..................................................... B3 Paul Verrastro ............................................................. B4 Emily Meise ....................................................................... B4 Ryan MacDonough .................................................... B5 Nancy Lichtenberg.................................................... B5 Lisa Balducci .................................................................. B6 Elyssa Noce Ely ............................................................. B6 Taylor Fusco-Ruiz .......................................................B7 Noreen Gorero ..............................................................B7 Kellie Hale ....................................................................... B8 Pedro Hernandez IV ................................................. B8 Dr. Claudio Benadiva ...............................................B9 Dr. Joshua Jones ............................................................B9 Dr. Athanassios Petrotos .....................................B9 Tricia McDonough Ryan ...................................... B10 Nivedha Natchiappan ........................................... B10 Community Health Resources .......................... B1 1 Hartford HealthCare Medical Mission ... B1 1 Trinity Health Of New England .................. B12 Apple Rehab Uncasville ...................................... B12 St. Mary's Hospital ..................................................B13 St. Francis Hospital .................................................B13