Two Middlesex Hospice Employees Win State Award

MIDDLETOWN — The Connecticut Association for Healthcare at Home has awarded Susan Daniels and Claire Putnam the 2021 Florence Wald Award of Excellence in End-of-Life Care.

Daniels, who lives in Durham, is Middlesex Health’s hospice resource nurse coordinator. Putnam lives in Wallingford and is the clinical manager for Middlesex Health Hospice.

This special award honors Florence Wald, who was internationally recognized for improving the care of dying patients. Wald, known as a visionary leader with an unwavering commitment to social justice and reverence for life, opened the first hospice program in the United States in Connecticut in 1971.

Daniels and Putnam were nominated for this award because of their willingness to help Middlesex Health’s assisted living facility as it cared for patients with COVID-19 very early in the pandemic. They worked in an unfamiliar environment to help ensure that sick residents were provided with the appropriate level of care and that all staff members were safe as they went about their work day. They demonstrated leadership and dedication to clinical excellence and made decisions together, keeping the best interests of both sick and healthy residents in mind. Their compassion and work experience were particularly valuable as they helped residents create advance directives, led conversations about the goals of care and coordinated grief counseling as needed.

“We are so proud of both Sue and Claire,” says Allison Dowe, executive director Middlesex Health Care at Home, which includes the Hospice Program. “They stepped up to the challenge and formed a team alliance. Their dedication to excellence paid off in keeping well residents well and minimizing the spread of the infection. In the end, they saved lives.”

For more information about the Middlesex Health Hospice Program, visit middlesexhealth.org/hospice-care.

Contact Information

Public Relations Director
Amanda Falcone
860-358-6980
amanda.falcone@midhosp.org