In the MENA healthcare Leadership Awards there is a category for “Women in Healthcare” to honour women who have made a contribution to healthcare in the region. My immediate thought was that my friend, Deidre Stewart, should be recognized for all the work she has done, not just for Cerner but as a nurse and as a person who has been in the region for over 30 years, longer than Cerner itself! So two things happened, firstly as I talked to our clients and associates I understood more about Dee and what she has achieved and realized that the “Lifetime of Achievement Award” was much more appropriate; secondly as I came across many of the people and organizations she had touched, I realized there were a lot of equally dedicated associates in Cerner who deserved recognition for what they do. So we wrote 4 nominations to cover some of the different aspects of what we do here in Cerner Middle East and we were shortlisted on 3, a tribute to all the work our associates have done in the region.
We were notified that we had been shortlisted for 3 of the 4 submission categories. Some of the things we do and our associates, do not all get noticed while we are all working on a system implementation, but they do make up the soul of #oneCME as the people you are working with.
The shortlist was:
Best Patient Safety Initiative, in recognition for all our associates who had helped roll out and implement the St John’s Sepsis Algorithm across our client base, each one focused on our belief in prevention being better than a cure.
Best CSR Initiative in Healthcare, for the work our Wellness Ambassadors do both in and out of the workplace for charity and the environment.
Lifetime of Achievement Award for Deirdre Stewart, who was the catalyst
Unfortunately, the one that we didn’t get shortlisted on was CEO of the Year for Mike Pomerance, where we had nominated him for all the things he does to create the organization that is Cerner Middle East.
Eventually the day of the awards came round and we four of us went to see the results, the ceremony and conference was held in the Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, NOT the one in the Dubai Marina which explains my somewhat late arrival having tried to convince the Marina hotel that there was a conference and I was supposed to be at it! This I failed to do and had to do a shamefaced drive to the Burg Khalifa. It was a bit like “Game of Thrones” at the Oscars, not because of the strange people who turned up (eventually) but because we cleared the board and won all 3 awards we had been shortlisted on. Then, unexpectedly, Mike was awarded “CEO of the Year” and we got 4 out of 4!
After a short celebration it was back to the office with the cups and certificates to share with all that had contributed to this amazing recognition of Dee, Mike and all the Cerner Middle East Associates.
