Page 8 - BusinessWest 2023 Healthcare Heroes

HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
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O’Brien
Jody O’Brien with staff members at the Urology Group of Western New England’s Springfield office.
Staff Photo
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at Valley Eye Radio to taking care of orphans in Romania; from teaching English to nursing students
in China to tagging sharks in Belize; from restoring and protecting turtle habitats in Costa Rica to working at Whispering Horse Therapeutic Riding, supporting riders with disabilities.
All this suggests she could easily have been nominated in several, if not all, the categories of Healthcare Heroes. Because of the length, variety,
and broad impact of her work, she is being honored
in the Lifetime Achievement category, one that has traditionally been dominated by administrators. In this case, though, it is going to a provider. A provider of care. A provider of hope. A provider of inspiration.
Through her 87 years, 67 of them as a nurse, she has seen just about everything, including a global pandemic. Summing it all up, she said her passion for helping others hasn’t dimmed — and has probably only grown stronger — nearly 70 years after she entered nursing school.
This enthusiasm and energy was conveyed by Dr. Donald Sonn, a physician with UGWNE, who was among those who hired her 18 years ago.
“When we first interviewed her, we were struck by how positive and effervescent she was, and how energetic she was,” he recalled. “I’m constantly amazed by her energy and her positive attitude.”
Calling her an “ombudsman” for the practice’s patients, Sonn said O’Brien consistently draws praise
for her calm, steady hand (and voice on the phone) and her desire to assist others.
All of this — and much more — explains why she is a true Healthcare Hero.
Riding the Wave
‘Cuba si, Yanquis no.’ That translates to ‘Cuba yes, Yankees no,’ and it’s a phrase, and a song, that O’Brien heard repeatedly as she served aboard the USS Hope,
the former Navy hospital ship that was chartered to the People to People Health Foundation in 1960, when it was docked in Trujillo, Peru two years later.
“The people who met us at the dock were Communists, and they did not want us there,” she recalled, adding that the exploits of the USS Hope in Peru later became
the subject of the
book Yanqui Come
Back!
O’Brien
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H8 2023
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