Heroes in Healthcare

The standard definition of a hero is someone admired for demonstrating courage. But there’s more to the definition: It also applies to some-one admired for noble qualities. So it’s no misuse of the term to bestow that title on the 21 individuals you will meet in this, our 10th installment of Heroes in Healthcare. More than 200 health-care professionals have now been recognized in this annual feature, and in each case, without exception, we at Ingram’s ask ourselves: Where do they come from? How is a metropolitan area of Kansas City’s size able to produce so many dedicated, skilled and compassionate people—enough to easily fill these positions of honor year after year?

The answers to that can be found in the personal accounts you’ll read for each of these people working in the fields of administration, professional services, nursing, auxiliary services, lifetime achievement and volunteer roles. Their examples, indeed, mark them as Heroes in Healthcare.

In 2009, we added another twist to our health-care awards recognition with coverage of the Fittest Execs and Fittest Companies Challenge. Some who participate in this workplace wellness program produced by Ingram’s and its corporate sponsoring partners are health-care professionals, but most aren’t. Yet their efforts to take command of their own fitness levels, with a broader goal of attacking the rising costs of health insurance, are in their own way heroic, and in some cases, truly inspirational.

The 2013 Health Care Special Report, then, will introduce you to a broad spectrum of people who are working hard in the interrelated fields of health-care delivery, personal fitness and workplace wellness. We salute each of them for their contributions to those efforts.