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Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership salutes everyone doing their part, making a difference

SCHAUMBURG, IL (March 20, 2020) – As much of the nation and world hunkers down to ride out the novel COVID-19 coronavirus, Bellwether League Inc., the Hall of Fame for Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership, would like to salute all of those individuals directly and indirectly linked to supply chains everywhere around the globe for helping us all to weather this pandemic.

“This is a situation that will test our creativity and critical thinking as the challenge continues,” said Bellwether League Treasurer Deborah Templeton, R.Ph., and Chief Administrative Officer, System Support Services, Geisinger Health, Danville, PA. “I am fortunate to have a stellar team and know that together, we will lead the staff through this. Most of all, remain calm. This too shall pass. On behalf of our patients, THANK YOU for your efforts so far and for those that are yet to come.”

Bellwether League Board Chairman Nick Gaich (Bellwether Class of 2013), CEO, Nick Gaich and Associates, Morgan Hill, CA, shares similar sentiments and emphasizes the motivation driving all healthcare professionals.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of the healthcare professionals who are serving our nation’s health needs while balancing the risk of personal exposure to themselves and their loved ones,” Gaich said. “In a time of unprecedented uncertainty your passion to serve others first, and your commitment to preserve through the daily challenges that have been exerted upon healthcare’s delivery system is a testament of courage, faith and purpose unequaled in recent history.

“Please know you are making a difference in the health and welfare of the patients and communities that you serve each and every day,” he continued. “Thank you again for your leadership, guidance and clinical expertise. We also ask that you keep in mind that self-care is crucially important as the challenges in front of us all continue. You are all champions in my heart!”

On behalf of Bellwether League’s Honoree and Future Famers classes and Sustaining Sponsors, the Board of Directors encourages everyone to appreciate and treat all those on the front lines of supply chain service with kindness and respect as they may be open to exposure simply by serving others to help them feel and stay healthy and safe.

• To the healthcare supply chain professionals and executives in healthcare organizations making sure necessary products remain in the pipeline and available to clinicians – even as the public scrambles to stockpile selected staples.
• To the manufacturers and distributors designing, making, storing and shipping as many of these products as quickly as possible to be used by and on the consumers.
• To the physicians, nurses and surgeons who expose themselves to bacteria, bodily fluids, germs and viruses every day by treating ill or injured patients.
• To the sterile processing professionals who clean, disinfect, sterilize and otherwise prepare all of the devices and tools needed by clinicians to treat and repair patients.
• To the biomedical engineering professionals who repair those devices and tools when needed.
• To the environmental services and facilities management professionals who maintain safe operability of equipment, rooms and buildings.
• To the infection preventionists who recognize that bacterial and viral eradication – especially during an outbreak or pandemic – would be nirvana, but know that as many people as possible emerging alive and healthy after a pandemic is among the greatest victories of all.
• To the housekeeping professionals – of which many an employee has had to become in recent weeks – that endlessly spray, scrub and wipe our environs clean and restore that neat and orderly appearance to our surroundings that we expect.
• To those pharmacists and pharmacy techs in healthcare facilities and retail outlets that are filling medication orders accurately … as expediently as they can.
• To those stocking shelves, scanning products and operating cash registers at grocery stores, drug stores and other retail outlets as citizens hoard and panic-buy certain products.
• To the postal carriers and workers and third-party logistics professionals handling packages and making daily deliveries of supplies we need and may be unable to locate in stores.
• To the fast-food and restaurant workers preparing meals for drive-through, pick-up, take-out and delivery even as their dining rooms must remain closed.
• To those hospitality industry workers that continue to keep hotels open and operational as more and more associations and trade organizations cancel or postpone educational and exhibition events.
• To the home-bound teachers trying to educate home-held students online. (And to the working parents of school-aged children making their homes their offices for an indefinite time period.)
• To the airport staff, flight attendants, pilots and others – including public and private ground transports – trying to get you where you need to go safely and as quickly as possible.
• To the first responders – emergency medical technicians, fire and police officers – putting us first when disasters public or private erupt.

Without the stress and tension experienced by all of these valuable contributors to business, to healthcare and to society, each one of us would find it more challenging and difficult to remain safely and securely in our respective homes.

Let’s not take the opportunities we have for granted.

Please remember to thank each of these people – and others you think should be mentioned here, too – for their service to us. Be sure not to give any of them attitude. We are who and what we are, and we have what we have, due in large part to them and what they do.

As we cover our mouths and noses when we cough and sneeze, as we try to avoid touching our faces, as we wash our hands for the umpteenth time for a minimum of 20 seconds or use hand sanitizer, remember that in so doing each one of us protects another from a potent virus spreading. In this case, the best offense is an effective defense so let’s be as offensive as we can … to the virus alone.

About Bellwether League

Bellwether League’s Board of Directors, a veteran group of industry advocates, evaluates and validates professionals submitted for consideration in its two award programs: Bellwethers and Future Famers.

The Board selects deceased, retired and currently active professionals with a minimum of 25 years of exemplary service and leadership performance in supply chain operations that meet its criteria to be publicly recognized as Bellwether Class Honorees. Those honored demonstrate their qualifications by advancing the profession through work experience and performance and active participation in professional organizations and their communities.

Future Famers represent supply chain professionals early in their healthcare careers who do not yet qualify for Bellwether consideration, but have contributed to the healthcare supply chain profession in a meaningful way.

To date, Bellwether League has honored and inducted into its Hall of Fame 112 innovators, leaders and pioneers in healthcare supply chain management in five distinct categories: Education & Media, Supply Chain Management, Group Purchasing, Supplier and Consulting Services. Bellwether League also has recognized 27 Future Famers.

Launched in late July 2007 by a group of influential veterans in the healthcare supply chain industry, Bellwether League Inc., is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation that identifies and honors men and women who have demonstrated significant leadership in, influence on and contributions to the supply chain from healthcare providers, healthcare product manufacturers and distributors, group purchasing organizations, consulting firms, educational institutions and media outlets.

Bellwether League currently is funded by six Founding and Platinum Sponsors – HealthTrust, Intalere, Owens & Minor, Premier, Vizient and VIE Healthcare – and a host of additional sponsors.

The 2020-2021 Board of Directors of Bellwether League Inc. includes a veteran group of industry advocates:

• Nick Gaich, (chairman) (Bellwether Class of 2013),CEO, Nick Gaich and Associates, Morgan Hill, CA
• Nathaniel Mickish (secretary) (Future Famers Class of 2015), Vice President, Sourcing, Supply Chain Management, Texas Health Resources, Arlington, TX
• Deborah A. Petretich Templeton, R.Ph., (treasurer), Chief, System Support Services, Geisinger Health, Danville, PA
• Rick Dana Barlow (co-founder, executive director), President, Wingfoot Media Inc., Schaumburg, IL
• Karen Conway, CMRP, Vice President, Healthcare Value, GHX, Colorado Springs, CO
• Dee Donatelli, R.N. (Bellwether Class of 2015), Vice President, Professional Services, TractManager,Newton, KS
• Edward J. Hisscock, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Management, Trinity Health, Livonia, MI
• Jamie C. Kowalski (co-founder, founding chairman 2007-2013) (Bellwether Class of 2017), retired CEO, Jamie C. Kowalski Consulting LLC, Milwaukee, WI
• Nicholas C. Toscano (Bellwether Class of 2018), Founder & CEO, Julicon Advisors LLC, Saint Simons Island, GA

For more information on how to become a sustaining or corporate sponsor or to nominate Honoree and Future Famer candidates visit BellwetherLeague.org.

At a glance:

Bellwether League’s 8th Annual Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Forum
Date: Monday, October 5, 2020
Time: 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Location: Executive Forum Amphitheater, The Westin-O’Hare, 6100 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL, 60018

Bellwether League’s 13th Annual Bellwether Induction Dinner Event (BIDE).
Date: Monday, October 5, 2020
Time: 5 p.m.-10 p.m.
Location: The Westin-O’Hare, 6100 N. River Road, Rosemont, IL, 60018

Contact:  Rick Dana Barlow
Wingfoot Media Inc.
E-mail:     rickdanabarlow@wingfootmedia.biz
Phone:     847-466-7425