Dr. Currier, Hospital Hero Award Recipient

 

The Hospital Hero Spotlight program was created by the Coalition to Protect America’s Healthcare to celebrate health care workers across the country. A Hospital Hero is someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty in their compassion and dedication to their work.

Dr. Currier heard about Rosalia, a young Bolivian girl who’d been savagely attacked by a rottweilers and sprang into action. A true hospital hero, he worked to transport Rosalia and her father to Boston Children’s Hospital, and hosted them in his home as she recovered.

You can read Dr. Jeffrey Hopkins nomination below and see the video that spotlights Dr. Currier’s and Rosalia’s story.

 

 
Dr. Hopkins’ submission of Dr. Currier, Hospital Hero:

We are incredibly fortunate to have Dr. Joe Currier working in our Emergency Department at Milford Regional Medical Center.  Dr. Currier has been providing outstanding care to patients in our ED since 1997 with some of the highest patient satisfaction scores and consistently receiving compliments for his kindness and compassion.

Last year, Dr. Currier started on a journey that has improved the lives of several  children with traumatic injuries from Bolivia, while continuing to work in our ED at Milford Regional.

He first learned of Rosalia on Facebook in 2013.  Rosalia was a 4 year-old girl from a small village in Bolivia who had been savagely attacked by two rottweilers and sustained life-threatening injuries.  

It was Joe’s kindness and compassion that led  him to dedicate the much of the past year toward saving Rosalia’s life.  Dr. Currier spoke with Rosalia’s doctors in Bolivia, who had limited resources to care for her, and took the lead in contacting Boston Children’s Hospital to discuss the possibility of having her transported to the U.S. for life-saving treatment.  Fortunately, he was able to convince Children’s Hospital to provide care for Rosalia, as long as transportation could be arranged.  Incredibly, Joe was able secure the use of a private jet from another generous and caring individual.  Dr. Currier put together a team of 2 nurses (also from Milford Regional Emergency Department) and his wife, Claudia, to transport the critically-ill child from Bolivia to Boston.  He traveled to a hospital in La Paz, Bolivia, where he first met Rosalia in person.  He was greeted with a hero’s welcome by the Bolivian people who were so appreciative of his humanitarian efforts.  Dr. Currier was able to bring Rosalia and her father back to the U.S., where caregivers at Boston Children’s were able start the road to recovery.  Throughout the past year, Joe has attended several surgeries, consulted with various caregivers, spent countless hours in the hospital at Rosalia’s side.  She is still living with the Curriers in Massachusetts today, after multiple reconstructive surgeries and an amazing recovery.

If that wasn’t enough, Dr. Currier also started a non-profit corporation, Healthy and Happy Kids, to allow other children from Bolivia who have sustained significant burns to come to the U.S. where they receive state-of-the-art treatment at Shriner’s Hospital in Boston.  So far, six children (ranging in age from 4 to 16) have come to Shriner’s Hospital with the help of Healthy and Happy Kids.  Five of the six have returned to their home country after receiving burn care at one of the top burn hospitals in the U.S.

None of this would have been possible without Dr. Currier’s compassion, vision, and dedication to improving the lives of others.  He has done all of this while caring for his own family (4 children) and continuing to work full-time in the Emergency Department at Milford Regional Medical Center.

Joe is truly a hero and I am proud to call him a friend and colleague.  He is certainly deserving of the title “Hospital Hero.”  Please accept this nomination for Dr. Joe Currier and feel free to contact me for any further information.

 

Sincerely-

Jeff Hopkins, MD

Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine

Milford Regional Medical Center

Milford, MA, 01748