Chairwoman Cornell Receives Leadership Award for Program to Combat Infections

New City, NY (August 3, 2011) – Chairwoman of the Rockland County Legislature Harriet Cornell is the recipient of the 2011 “Best-Of-The-Best in Health Care Leadership Award” from the Niagara Health Quality Coalition (NHQC) and The Alliance For Quality Health Care in recognition of her successful initiative to encourage Rockland’s two hospitals to participate in an innovative anti-infection program to combat hospital-acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. 

Two years ago Cornell became interested in ways to extinguish these virulent and often-deadly cross-infections which are a problem for hospitals everywhere. Through Bruce Boissonnault, President and CEO of NHQC, Cornell learned of a program piloted in the Veterans’ Administration (VA) Healthcare System in Pittsburgh which had proven successful. Cornell invited Rockland’s two hospitals to become the first “team” of hospitals in New York State to fight MRSA and become partners with the U.S. Centers of Disease Control.  She arranged telephone conferences for hospital leaders with Mr. Boissonnault and VA doctors which resulted in the development of a pilot program.  The program was announced at a May 2011 joint press conference in Chairwoman Cornell’s office with Nyack Hospital President and CEO David Freed, Nyack Hospital Medical Director Michael Rader, M.D., Good Samaritan Hospital CEO Philip Patterson and Vice President Deborah Marshall.

Boissonnault, who presented the award, said Cornell demonstrated “exceptional and selfless leadership” and brought out the best in others for the good of the entire community.  “Chairwoman Cornell worked tenaciously to bring hospital leaders, nationally recognized quality improvement experts and other essential health care stakeholders together to launch an effort that will measure and reduce MRSA infections for patients in Rockland’s hospitals,” said Boissonnault, adding, “She has launched a collaboration that many believe will become the national standard for how to prevent avoidable health care-acquired MRSA infections.”

The program consists of a checklist of steps known as the “MRSA bundle” and was introduced in June in one unit at each hospital.  The checklist includes nasal swabs during the admittance procedure to detect for infections, hand hygiene, contact precautions for patients who are infected with MRSA and the main component of Positive Deviance – an approach to behavioral and social change that places infection control in the hands of everyone who has contact with patients, including doctors, nurses, custodians, clergy and others who regularly visit the hospital.

Cornell said, “I am truly honored by this recognition and I am most grateful to our hospital chiefs who were eager to participate in this innovative program. We are fortunate to have two wonderful hospitals in our county that are willing to collaborate in order to increase safety and quality of care for those who enter their doors.”