Kathleen Coyne Receives 2014 Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award

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Kathleen Coyne, recipient of the Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award, with Dr. Frank Torti (left) and Dr. Peter Deckers.
Kathleen Coyne, recipient of the Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award, with Dr. Frank Torti (left) and Dr. Peter Deckers.

 

Kathleen Coyne, director of critical care for UConn Health’s John Dempsey Hospital, is the 2014 recipient of the Peter J. Deckers Employee Appreciation Award – one of the highest employee honors awarded each year.

“Kathleen promotes positive change at UConn Health with great energy and enthusiasm. For example, she was part of a project to improve patient throughput in the Emergency Department. The team effectively decreased the time it takes for a patient to be seen in the ED, reduced the number of patients who leave the ED without being seen, decreased the time a patient gets admitted to a patient unit, and improved the hand off of a patient from the ED to the admitting floor,” hospital leadership wrote in her nominating letter.

“Kathleen embodies our mission and vision for teaching and education by mentoring staff at work, and pursuing an advanced degree to further her own education,” they added.

This award was named to recognize the legacy of Deckers, who previously served as executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the UConn School of Medicine and continues to see patients in the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Employees were nominated by senior leaders based on three primary criteria:

  • Commitment and passion to the mission of UConn Health
  • Leadership skills
  • Exemplary professional skills and personal attributes

“The spirit of this award embodies Dr. Decker’s legacy and is really at the heart of who we are: a caring, compassionate community,” said Dr. Frank M. Torti, UConn Health’s executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the UConn School of Medicine.

A total of eight employees were nominated for the award:

  • Kathy Black, administrative officer, Center for Quantitative Medicine, School of Medicine
  • Kathleen Coyne, director of critical care, John Dempsey Hospital
  • Barbara Cusati, administrative officer, School of Medicine
  • Victor Hesselbrock, professor, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
  • Karen Metersky, nurse practitioner, Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center
  • Michael Petruzzi, technical analyst II, Institutional Support
  • Joseph Pirog, business systems analyst, Department of Public Safety, Institutional Support
  • JoAnn Sica, performance improvement project leader, Performance Improvement & Operational Integration, Ambulatory Services

Upon learning that Coyne was the 2014 recipient, Deckers thanked her for taking good care of him when he was a patient in 2005.