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SBJ honors 14 individuals and two organizations.
SBJ photo by Jessica Rosa
SBJ honors 14 individuals and two organizations.

Blog: Health care is truly a team sport

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This year, Springfield Business Journal added company honors to the mix for our annual Health Care Champions awards.

We felt that alongside the individual healers in the industry, teams also were deserving of recognition. Health care is truly a team sport.

The city of Springfield was honored with the Corporate Wellness Program of the Year award and CoxHealth received Provider of the Year at last night’s 10th annual awards.

Accepting the award for Springfield, City Manager Jason Gage said the inBalance program is about valuing employees’ well-being. Among participants, officials have charted a 31% decrease in staff members who show five or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

“We start thinking about wellness and we look at the bottom line and we start to see the cost of our benefits go up … it’s so much more than that,” Gage said. “It’s about being happy and healthy and being able to commit time and energy at work. But it’s also about what you want to do at home – play with your child or your grandchild, have hobbies and feel good about yourself. That’s what it’s about.”

CoxHealth was honored for its role as the largest health system in Springfield with roughly 12,500 employees. It boasts six hospitals, six urgent care clinics and more than 80 other medical clinics in its 24-county service area. That’s worlds away from its humble start 113 years ago providing care out of a duplex.

These group awards go to the heart of the health care industry. The collaborative environment of health care is critical to patient care. Last night, all the honorees took time to thank their co-workers and employers. While it’s common practice at awards to thank colleagues, the sincerity of this group was moving.

Both Dr. Staci Niemoth and Dr. Ashley Popejoy, the night’s Top Doctor honorees, shared that sentiment.

“I am super appreciative of this award, but I really believe it belongs to all of Jordan Valley [Community Health Center],” Popejoy said. “They all work so hard every day to make sure the kids of this community are served in ways that are both innovative and with the highest quality of care possible.”

To the 2019 Health Care Champions and all the healers in our community, thank you for your heroic and compassionate care.

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