The Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Award

Click here to read about the first 10 Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Awardees, 1999-2008

2010 Nominations are now open!
Application deadline: April 16, 2010
Thank you to AstraZeneca, a leading pharmaceutical company, for its support of the Compassionate Caregiver Award.

There are 3 ways to nominate your caregiver!
1. Complete the online nomination form here.

2. Print out a form (PDF) here and mail to the following address:

The Schwartz Center
Award Review Committee
205 Portland Street, 6th Floor
Boston, MA 02114

3. Print out a form (PDF) here and fax it to(617) 643-6123.

About the Award
The Schwartz Center has forged a powerful presence in the health care community since it’s inception in 1995, and is now recognized as an organization that creates, implements and supports groundbreaking education and training programs for multidisciplinary caregivers, their patients, and the health care community.

The Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Award® was established in 1999 as a way to honor Massachusetts caregivers who display extraordinary compassion in caring for patients and their families.

A statewide Review Committee created by the Schwartz Center is seeking nominations for the 2010 award. One winner and four finalists will be recognized at the Schwartz Center’s annual dinner on November 16, 2010, in Boston. The winner will receive a $5,000 monetary prize, and the finalists will receive $1,000 each.

Who should I nominate?
The Schwartz Center encourages the nomination of candidates from diverse types of institutions including long-term care facilities, community health centers, outpatient clinics, hospices, visiting nurse associations and hospitals. The Center also encourages nominations that represent the broad racial and ethnic diversity of caregivers throughout Massachusetts. Past nominees can be renominated.

Nominees can include all types of caregivers, for example:

• Home Health Aides
• Certified Nursing Assistants
• Physical and Occupational Therapists
• Licensed Practical Nurses
• Doctors
• Nurses
• Dentists
• Chaplains
• Social Workers
• Physician Assistants
• Psychologists
• Teams of Caregiver

Who qualifies?
The award recognizes those who serve as models of commitment to compassionate care. Any paid, employed caregiver, or team of caregivers, who has direct contact with patients in any setting where patients receive care in the state of Massachusetts is eligible. The nominee must embody the following characteristics:

	communicates sensitively with the patient and the patient's loved ones, listening carefully, showing empathy and instilling a sense of hope;
	respects the patient;s values, culture, choices and decisions; and
	understands the significance of the patient's family and community.

Help us spread the word!
The Schwartz Center encourages nominations for the award from both the healthcare community and the general public. You can help garner nominations from within your organization by distributing and posting information about the award.

	Announce it in your organization's newsletter, institutional email, and/or website;
	Post flyers where patients, families and healthcare workers will see them;
	Distribute packets or direct people to our website.

For more information, email us or call (617) 726-0512


The Schwartz Center will not accept nominations of caregivers who work at the same institution as the 2009 awardee. This policy is to ensure that the award process recognizes the widest possible range of healthcare organizations that employ compassionate caregivers. Specifically, the 2009 awardee, Amy Ship, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. If there is someone you would like to nominate from that hospital, please do so in 2011.