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HEALTHCARE HEROES | 2024 Awards B4 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | SEPTEMBER 30, 2024 Winner Category | Healthcare Staff Paul Verrastro First Fertility Senior Vice President of Operations & Risk P aul Verrastro has 30 years of experience in women's healthcare operations and has been with First Fertility for 23 years. During most of this time, he served as the CEO of e Center for Advanced Reproductive Services, where under Verrastro's lead- ership nearly 15,000 babies were born to Connecticut families. Verrastro currently serves as senior vice president of operations and risk at First Fertility, where he works on oper- ationalizing organizational objectives, mitigating risk and mentoring the next generation of reproductive managers. What have been your significant contributions to your organization in the past year? Rocky Hill-based First Fertility has experienced exponential growth over the past year, and we have hired many new healthcare professionals. A significant contribution I have made in the last year is developing a Fertility 101 staff orienta- tion plan for new hires. ere are many healthcare skills that transfer easily to fertility. However, our field is unique and scientifically complex in many ways. It is critical that we remain focused on the unique emotional needs and challenges of the patients we serve. e most important subject we discuss is our patients' care, and the most critical numbers we evaluate are our pregnancy rates. Tell us about a challenge in your job that you were able to overcome. As our network grew to 10 centers in eight states, each practice had a different supplies procurement process. I identified a system to aggregate the process for cost savings. We have since achieved over $250,000 in annualized savings with five centers, with plans to convert five more in 2025. What's your next major goal and/or challenge? First Fertility has recently partnered with a fertility clinic on the West Coast. We will be designing and building out a brand new 15,000-square-foot facility in the greater Los Angeles area. Winner Category | Innovation Emily Meise Gaylord Specialty Healthcare Level III Inpatient Occupational Therapist, Inpatient Rehabilitation S ince 2012, occupational therapist Emily Meise has treated patients recovering from brain injuries and strokes at Gaylord Hospital. Meise serves as liaison between inpatient therapists and researchers with Gaylord's Milne Institute for Healthcare Innovation to enhance the development and use of evidence-based treatments for patients' optimal recovery and maximum quality of life. What have been your significant contributions to your organization in the past year? Occupational therapists assess func- tional cognition through occupation- and performance-based tests related to daily living activities. To address the limitations of existing cognitive screens in inpatient occupational therapy, I collaborated with Gaylord's research team and an expert panel to create and develop the Gaylord Occupational erapy Cognitive (GOT-Cog) screen, a novel tool that's intended to transform inpatient occupational therapy assess- ment and treatment around the world. After 2.5 years of development, a valid- ity and reliability study was published in the American Journal of Occupational erapy. Gaylord Hospital occupational therapists successfully use the tool to enhance therapy planning and treatment. Tell us about a challenge in your job that you were able to overcome. I led our entire inpatient occupa- tional therapy department to complete their human subject training course, a time-intensive endeavor that successfully enabled Gaylord Hospital to contribute effectively to GOT-Cog data collection after internal review board approval. is achievement strengthened our team's commitment to advancing research and improving patient outcomes. What's your next major goal and/or challenge? Following the publication of the initial manuscript, our GOT-Cog researchers have received dozens of messages from occupational therapy practitioners and investigators across the world seeking additional information. I look forward to continuing to validate GOT-Cog in other healthcare settings and to the publication of additional studies in the near future. These Health Care Heroes are at the heart of our success 860-569-5900 www.intercommunityct.org At InterCommunity Health Care, we are wholly dedicated to making quality health care accessible to everyone. But what sets us apart from most community health centers is how we provide that care–with respect, kindness, and acceptance for every patient we serve. We can only achieve this unique brand of care with the help of a supremely gifted sta , including Aneta Godlewski and Ryan MacDonough, who demonstrate every day how deeply they believe in our mission. We proudly honor and applaud Aneta and Ryan for being named 2024 Hartford Business Journal Health Care Heroes, and for helping us change the meaning of care. Aneta Godlewski, MBA, LPC, LADC, NCC Vice President of Care Optimization Ryan MacDonough Director of Community Support Services