Karen Rich-Smith, RN, has been selected as employee of the month at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center for the month of June 2015. Each month, MAHHC recognizes employees who have demonstrated a commitment to sustained service excellence in their respective departments and have maintained a spirit of compassion, collaboration and continuous hard work within the MAHHC community.
Rich-Smith is a care coordinator on the Community Health Team in the Patient Centered Medical Home of the Mt. Ascutney Hospital Primary Care Clinic. “Karen provides case management, education and support to high-risk patients,” says Jill Lord, Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Patient Care Services. “She makes sure that patients have the education and support they need to optimize their health, no matter what their challenges are. She’s also a creative thinker and innovator. She implemented a discharge phone call system to ensure that patients are safe once they’ve returned home. We’re so glad to have Karen on our MAHHC team.” Rich-Smith has worked at MAHHC since 1995 and is a resident of Windsor, VT.
Founded in 1933, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center is a not-for-profit community hospital network including the critical access-designated Mt. Ascutney Hospital in Windsor, Vermont, and Ottauquechee Health Center in Woodstock, Vermont. Affiliated with Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the Hospital provides people in communities across the Connecticut River Valley with primary care and a comprehensive suite of specialty services, along with 25 inpatient beds, a therapeutic pool and an acclaimed, 10-bed inpatient rehabilitation department. Mt. Ascutney Hospital is a recipient of the national Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service, one of the most prestigious awards in healthcare, and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), as well as the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) with Level 3 status, the highest level of medical home designation for delivering quality care.