Breuing Earns Starfish Award
Starfish Awards honor BWHers committed to care, compassion, respect, advocacy and mentoring. Initiated six years ago, they were traditionally presented to nurses and patient care assistants who consistently went above and beyond to make a difference in their patients’ lives. Since then, physicians also have received this prestigious award, which has expanded and gained popularity to become a symbol of superior patient care at BWH.
Karl Breuing, MD, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, received a Starfish Award at the May ceremony. “Dr. Breuing is the most compassionate person I have ever met,” Beth Kelleher, his assistant and nominator, said. “His patients constantly tell me how caring a man he is. When he is with them, he is focused on them alone and absolutely devoted to doing everything humanly possible to help them.”
Breuing’s compassion and sensitivity are evident in the care with which he treats every patient. Kelleher pointed to how Breuing recently went above and beyond in his treatment of an 84 year-old patient with chronic ulcers in her lower leg. He took it upon himself to clip her toenails during her weekly appointments, which saved her the time and effort of going to a podiatrist.