One of our favorite traditions at WSHA is recognizing our members for their exemplary service to their communities. In fact, we’ve been doing it for more than 30 years, and we will continue this tradition when we present annual awards at the Annual Meeting Oct. 17-19 in Renton.
Those awards are the Joe Hopkins Memorial Award, Ben Lindekugel Governance Excellence Award and the Community Health Leadership Award. All winners are peer nominated, and nominations are now open for 2022. Please make nominations on the WSHA website at wsha.org/awards by Friday, Sept. 9. (WSHA also accepts year-round applications for the Rural Quality Everyday Award, which recognizes a rural hospital completing an exceptional quality improvement project. The award will next be given in 2023.)
Of these awards we present this fall, the oldest and most prestigious is the Joe Hopkins Memorial Award, which is the eponymous award in honor of the health care leader who touched so many lives before he passed away in 1987. We present it each year as a lifetime achievement award to an individual who has made lasting contributions to our state’s health care landscape throughout their career. Given the weight of this award, we restrict nominations to hospital administrators and board members.
Similarly, the Ben Lindekugel Governance Excellence Award was created in honor of a health care leader who left us too soon. Created in 2019, the award recognizes an individual who has shown commitment to hospital governance and community service, as Ben dedicated much of work to these areas. All WSHA members can nominate for this award.
The Community Health Leadership Award is given to an organization whose work extends beyond the hospital walls to improve the health of the larger community, as hospitals are constantly becoming more prominent community partners for communal wellbeing. All WSHA members can also nominate for this award.
We hope you will help us recognize and celebrate the outstanding work happening across our state by making nominations for these awards!
Sincerely,
Tim Pfarr
WSHA Communications Director
timp@wsha.org