Editorial: Time to laud health heroes

One thing Hawke's Bay does well is awards.

We have business awards, community service awards, hospitality awards, wine awards, signature dish awards, and they are all well supported.

But one glaring omission has been health awards, which seems somewhat strange when you think about it. If we are prepared to applaud a cup of coffee, then surely we would also want to recognise the men, women and teams that keep us alive and well so we can enjoy that cup of coffee in the first place.

The lack of any formal community recognition of our health heroes has not gone unnoticed by the sector, which has banded together to set things right by holding the inaugural Hawke's Bay Health Awards at the Hawke's Bay Opera House tomorrow night.

The Awards are supported by Hawke's Bay District Health Board and Health Hawke's Bay - Te Oranga Hawke's Bay.

Health Hawke's Bay chief executive Philip Grant is right when he says the real benefactor of health sector success and innovation is the community.

These awards offer an overdue opportunity to recognise those who work so hard to improve our quality of life and, in some cases, to actually keep us alive,

The awards categories speak to the collaborative nature required to deliver truly outstanding health care. Tomorrow night, winners will be announced for the team of the year award, excellence in innovation award, excellence in provider collaboration and integration award, leadership achievement award, commitment to quality award, Hawke's Bay healthy workplace award, and the supreme award, which will be selected from the earlier categories.

The gala event is sold out with more than 300 people attending, so there is clearly a lot of community interest in a healthy Hawke's Bay. Stands to reason really - this is one awards night from which we are all winners.