Jennifer Ash, a Hartford Hospital nurse practitioner, was among nine Health Care Heroes in Greater Hartford recognized this week by the Hartford Business Journal.
Judges, in the Advancement in Healthcare/Prevention category, noted Ash’s work in reducing rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, counseling patients in smoking cessation, exercise programs and other methods to improve lung function. Ash, the lead advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) in the hospital’s Department of Medicine, also directs the inpatient immunization program within the hospital. Ash also coordinates a Hartford Hospital collaboration with nursing schools and city of Hartford to deliver flu and pneumonia shots to needy members of the community by setting up clinics in homeless shelters and soup kitchens.
“If we didn’t go out there,” she told Hartford Business Journal, “many of those patients don’t have access to [health care],” Many are uninsured or underinsured, or are undocumented immigrants fearful of being deported.”
Ash, a Massachusetts native, joined Hartford Hospital in 1996.
To read the HBJ story on her, click here.
Dr. Brian Grosberg, medical director of the Hartford HealthCare Headache Center, and Rachel Slater, a speech language pathologist at The Hospital of Central Connecticut, were among the Health Care Heroes finalists.