PRESS RELEASE

SUSAN BLUSHI, CRT RECEIVES COMPASSIONATE CAREGIVER AWARD FROM NEW ENGLAND SINAI HOSPITAL

STOUGHTON, MA —  Susan Blushi, CRT, an East Bridgewater resident and respiratory therapist at New England Sinai Hospital, has been chosen as the recipient of Sinai’s Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award. “Compassionate caregiving is at the core of Sinai’s longstanding reputation as a center for pulmonary excellence and complex medical care. Susan was chosen because of the outstanding example she sets in providing exceptional care to Sinai patients, whom she treats with compassion, dignity, care and respect,” said Sinai President and CEO Lester P. Schindel.

A graduate of Massasoit Community College, Susan came to Sinai in 2002. Described as “more than an excellent respiratory therapist and Sinai’s ambassador of good cheer,” Blushi goes out of her way to make certain her patients are well cared for and treats them as if they were her friends and family.

Blushi is the second person at Sinai to receive the Compassionate Caregiver Award, established in 2006 to convey the hallmark of Sinai patient care and the manner in which it is delivered. Nominations for the award may be submitted by a Sinai employee, physician, patient or family member. All paid hospital staff and members of the medical staff are eligible. The selection committee includes Sinai staff, administration, board, board of advisors and community members. Blushi was one of five finalists selected for the prestigious award. Other Sinai finalists were: Lance Peterson, PA-C, Satellite Administrator, and Paula McNamara, LPN, of Quincy; Maura Leear, LSW, of Walpole; and Sister Ellen Reilly, SND, Certified Chaplain in the Pastoral Care Department, of Randolph.

The Compassionate Caregiver is someone whose approach to providing outstanding medical care to Sinai patients includes an extraordinary capacity for empathy and compassion. Compassionate Caregivers are exceptional in their ability to listen, to comfort and treat patients lovingly and with sensitivity and respect. They seem to have an innate ability to preserve the dignity of the patients in their care, and support them and their families in the most difficult times.

“In conferring this award, we are recognizing Susan as a role model to her colleagues. She is helping us continue to foster and emphasize the compassionate component of care that we believe to be so very essential to quality care,” said President Schindel.

Blushi will be honored in a special ceremony at the hospital’s annual fundraising gala, Stepping Out With Sinai, on May 12, 2007 at the Fairmont Copley Plaza, Boston.

Susan Blushi, CRT, recipient of Sinai’s 2007 Compassionate Caregiver of the Year Award

                                                            
 
New England Sinai Hospital is a 212-bed, non-sectarian, not-for-profit, long-term acute-care hospital with its main campus in Stoughton, MA and inpatient satellite units at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston and Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester.Recognized as a regional leader in pulmonary, medically complex and acute rehabilitation care, Sinai also offers a wide range of outpatient programs and services.  Sinai is a teaching affiliate of Tufts University School of Medicine.

Contact:
Carole Herrup
Public Relations Director
New England Sinai Hospital
150 York Street
Stoughton, MA 02072

Tel. 781-297-1329
FAX: 781-297-7509