Professionals in a wide range of healthcare fields on May 19 united at Terrace On the Park, in Queens, for Schneps Media’s Healthcare Hero awards, honoring healers and helpers from hospitals to homes and the homeless.
Schneps Media CEO Joshua Schneps greeted hundreds of attendees, singling out a little more than 50 heroes, as not simply essential during the pandemic, but every day.
“Healthcare workers really have a special place in my heart,” WPIX-11 News anchor and emcee Hazel Sanchez said, noting her mother was a nurse and her father was an anesthesiologist. “As a kid I witnessed how much they sacrificed, not only to provide for our family, but to be there and care for others.”
Anthony Minelli, AAP manager for the division of trauma and acute care surgery at NYU Langone Health in Suffolk, said the awards create a forum for a wide range of providers to meet.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to be with other healthcare providers from inpatient to outpatient,” Minelli said. “Everybody has unique challenges in their specific fields.”
Attendees walked a red carpet to songs such as “Tonight’s Going to be a Good Night,” posed with trophies and took a break from often high-stress occupations where lives are often on the line.
Navin Shivpal, CEO of Cottage Home Care Services, employs 5,000 providing care around the clock. “In home care, we operate 24/7. In case they (workers) need anything, they can call me,” he said. “If it’s 2 a.m., I’ll take care of my workers.”
A healing culture
Many attendees said their service ethic goes back to their childhood, citing a path beginning with parents.
Tony Binshteyn, Founder/CEO of NY Best Medical, said his mother worked as a home health aide for nearly 30 years. He now runs a company that employs nearly 400, providing drug tests and physicals to speed hiring in the home care industry.
“I kind of felt we’d have to change the industry,” said Binshteyn, whose company seeks to break a logistical logjam. “I think we did.”
Dr. Odetta Keane, a social worker originally from Trinidad, said her ethic goes back to her childhood, before she founded Stay Keane LCSW for which she won the Caribbean Impact Award.
“I was always the one helping someone, navigating for someone, creating something,” Dr. Keane said, noting she now provides psychotherapy and mental health services.
And Jennifer Wenk, vice president of admissions, business development and social work at Cassena Care, said her mother was a registered nurse.
“She introduced me to the social worker at her hospital,” Wenk said. “I remember meeting her and asking her questions and hearing what she did. I fell in love with it.”
And Diane Louard-Michel, executive director of Lantern Community Services, decided she wanted to help at age 18. “I remember this as an ah-ha moment. This is what I want to do in life,” she said, noting her group helps the homeless. “We’re trying to restore dignity, find stability and hope and really be their champion.”
Patient to provider
Some like Dr. Craig Menezes, managing regional director for Long Island and Queens operations for JAG Physical Therapy, have been patients and now help others.
Dr. Menezes had three ACL surgeries, starting at age 17 and now helps people return to their life.
“Our slogan is ‘Get back the life you love,” he said of the group with 170 clinics in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. “That’s something we really pride ourselves on.”
Dr. Paola Carugno, associate chair of pediatrics, at NYC Health and Hospitals/Lincoln, was presented with the Latin Impact Award for helping children with special needs.
“That’s satisfying to me,” she said. “We also train pediatricians to care for children with special needs.”
Amber Shah, CEO of the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center, said collaboration, transparency and alignment are crucial in organizations.
“You’re not able to talk about everything. But your team is wondering what’s happening,” she said. “You need to find a way to communicate with your team.”
Prevention plans
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of healthcare. And some providers talked about the importance of prevention.
Dr. Ramon M. Tallaj, chairman and founder of Somos Community Care, was awarded the Visionary Leadership Award for preventive care efforts. “We have the best care in the world,” he said, “but people have to be sick.”
Dr. Tallaj mentioned someone in the Bronx who repeatedly returned to the emergency room until Somos went to their home and found mold. “We cleaned the mold,” he said. “She hasn’t come back to the emergency room.”
Darren Deoraj, system director of operations for the Department of Urology at Mt. Sinai Health System, said “early screening and detection save lives.”
Career change
Some like Janet E. Larghi, director of therapeutic recreation at NYC Health and Hospitals/McKinney, have had myriad jobs in healthcare.
“I’ve worked in many different capacities, administrator, assisted living, Alzheimer units,” she said.
Others came to healthcare from different professions, such as Ronald Marshall Carrion, a registered nurse at NYC Health and Hospitals/Elmhurst who had been a mechanical engineer in Cuba.
“I had the opportunity to get a degree in nursing,” he said, remembering his mother’s Saturday trips to help those in need. “My mother is always in my heart. That passion.”
Ronald Haas, a residential registered nurse at Life’s WORC, said this was a second career.
And Susan Barone, CSA Welfare Fund administrator for the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, started as an educator, working with children with disabilities before the union recruited her.
“You learn as you go,” Barone said. “Healthcare and education are similar in that respect. If you’re born to serve, you serve.”
Finance
Many found themselves as accidental business people. Dr. Christy Valentine Theard, president and CEO of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicare and Medicaid, got a crash course in business as a physician.
“They don’t teach you business in med school,” she said of opening in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. “Entrepreneurs understand you learn a lot about things you never thought you had to know about.”
Dr. Adeeti Gupta, Founder and CEO of Walk in GYN care and NY360 Wellness, said she had to deal with business and healthcare.
After going into debt during the pandemic, she got credit during Covid and then became debt free.
“Some (programs) are running out of funding,” said Keisha Graham-Wilson, project director, CN Guidance and Counseling Services, said of programs. “It’s my mission to find funding.”
Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates, a government affairs firm, helps healthcare providers obtain grants, contracts and funds.
“Most folks in government really want to do the right thing,” he said. “It’s finding the right way to do the right thing. Everybody has different needs. And they all cost something.”
The awards also raised money for Urban Pathways, a nonprofit providing services to the homeless.
“We make sure we address their mental health concerns,” Urban Pathways CEO Gary P. Jenkins said.
He said it’s also important for healthcare providers to gather, beyond their specialty. “It’s great when the community comes together and collaborates,” Jenkins said. “How can we help individuals who need healthcare services?”
Healthcare Heroes Full List of Honorees:
Mistress of Ceremonies, Hazel Sanchez, PIX 11
Mitchell Abrons, Optum Medical Care; Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Seun Ajibade RN, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
Susan Barone, Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA)
Tony Binshteyn, NY Best Medical
Tiffany Benett, Community Options – Brooklyn Region
Laura Bonelli, LifeVac LLC
John Brown, Parker Jewish Institute for Health Care and Rehabilitation
Galina Bukhgalter RN, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
Ronald Marshall Carrion BSN RN, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst
Latin Impact Award, Dr. Paola Carugno, NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln
Thandavababu Chelliah MD, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
Anette DeMattio MA, The Too Strong Movement
Icon, Darren Deoraj MHA, Mount Sinai Health System
Stephanie D’Haiti, Health & Welfare Council of Long Island
Keisha Graham-Wilson LMSW, CN Guidance and Counseling Services
Dr. Adeeti Gupta, Walk In GYN Care, NY360 Wellness
Kanchan Gupta MD, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
Ronald Haas, Life’s WORC
Joseph Healy, ImageFIRST Healthcare Laundry Specialists
Vanguard Award, Elizabeth P. Helzner PhD MS DipACLM, School of Public Health
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Nicole Iannarone, Cornerstone Behavioral Services
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center Emergency Department
Amy Jeng MD, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
Gary P. Jenkins, Urban Pathways
Caribbean Impact Award, Dr. Odetta Keane DSW LCSW-R, Stay Keane LCSW PC
Josh Klein, Emerest and Royal Care
Janet E. Larghi, NYC Health + Hospitals/McKinney
Vanguard Award, Jason M. Lazar MD PhD MPH, College of Medicine SUNY Downstate
Health Sciences University
Michelle Lewis, NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health
John Lopez M.S.Ed., Devereux New York
Diane Louard-Michel, Lantern Community Services
Dr. Craig Menezes PT DPT, JAG Physical Therapy
Anthony Minelli, NYU Langone Health – Suffolk
Neela Mukherjee Lockel MSW MPA, EAC Network
Jack O’ Donnell, O’Donnell & Associates
Dr. Ralu Onubogu, Columbus Staffing Services
Tessy Peter MD FCCP, Episcopal Health Services
Marcia Phillips MSN/MPH PHCNS-BC CEN, NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens
Vanguard Award, Marie-Claire Rosenberg Roberts PhD MS MPA RN, College of
Nursing SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Rezeda Sabirzianova RN, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
Debbie Salas-Lopez MD MPH, Northwell Health
Icon, Maria Santiago, Home Health Aide Training Institute
Ninfa Segarra JD, SBH Health System
Amber Shah MSHS MBA, Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center
Peter Sherman MD MPH, BronxCare Health System
Navin Shivpal, Cottage Homecare Services
Dr. Anitha Srinivasan, NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan
Visionary Leadership Award, Dr. Ramon M. Tallaj, SOMOS Community Care
Dr. Christy Valentine Theard, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medicaid and
Medicare
Vanguard Award, Jasmin Thomas OTD OTR/L BCP, School of Health Professions
SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Dr. Keith H. Tung, AdvantageCare Physicians
Caribbean Impact Award, Natasha Vernon Esq., VIP Community Services Inc.
Cheryl Weekes PHR SHRM-CP, Constructive Partnerships Unlimited
Jennifer Wenk, Cassena Care
Scott Wohl, LiveOnNY
