UofL Health was well represented among the 2020 Health Care Heroes honorees. The annual award program, organized by Louisville Business First, recognizes outstanding achievers the greater Louisville health care community. The following UofL Health honorees were recognized at an awards banquet on Feb. 18.
- Shari Kretzschmer, Vice President, Patient Services and Chief Nursing Officer
- Arthur Malkani, MD
- Kim Denzik and Annabelle Pike, UofL Hospital Trauma Institute
“The honors are well-deserved for Shari, Dr. Malkani, Kim and Annabelle. We’ve got outstanding talent at UofL Health, but these four really raise the bar,” said Ken Marshall, chief operating officer, UofL Health. “UofL Health is better because of their leadership.”
Shari was honored as a Health Care Hero – Manager for her leadership resulting in improved nursing retention, engagement and nurse quality indicators. When the organization was short 300 nurses, as UofL Hospital originally regained its independence, she spearheaded the recruitment of more than 700 nurses and 300 ancillary nursing staff in two years.
With 30 years as an orthopedic surgeon at Jewish Hospital, Dr. Malkani was honored as a Health Care Hero – Physician. He was the first orthopedic surgeon in Kentucky to embrace and use new robotic-arm-assisted surgery (Stryker’s MAKO® technology) for joint replacement (knees and hips). He recently performed the 1000th MAKO robotic-arm-assisted surgical procedure at Jewish Hospital. Of the 1,000 cases performed at Jewish Hospital, Dr. Malkani has performed 850 of these.
Kim and Annabelle were named Health Care Heroes in the Community Outreach category, representing UofL Hospital Trauma Institute’s Stop the Bleed program. Uncontrolled bleeding is the primary cause of preventable death for patients with traumatic injuries. Stop the Bleed classes teach community members basic techniques, including tourniquet placement and wound packing, enabling bystanders who witness an injury to control bleeding and potentially save a life. The two-hour training sessions are offered at no charge to private groups as well as individuals in the community through open classes.
