Harborview Medical Center was named the recipient of the 2007 Foster G. McGaw Prize, which honors its work in the community.

The $100,000 award is presented annually to a healthcare organization that significantly improves the health and well-being of the community.

“Harborview is an irreplaceable community asset and a model of exceptional leadership,” said Susan Manilow, chair of the Foster G. McGaw Prize Committee, in a press release. “Harborview brings healthcare services to the places where the need is the greatest and makes great strides to break down barriers in access to care.”

Kimberly McNally, president of the board of trustees at Harborview, said winning the Foster G. McGaw award was thrilling.

“We (the board of trustees) are very grateful to the award committee for selecting Harborview from among the outstanding group of finalists, as it gives testament to the remarkable work done every day at Harborview,” she said. “Many of our administrators and clinicians have devoted their careers to serving the underserved and severely ill or injured.”

Johnese Spisso, Harborview’s interim executive director, said the medical center submitted its application last spring, when the American Hospital Association (AHA) sent out criteria to 5,000 hospitals and health systems. Harborview was notified in August that it was one of four finalists.

Harborview was also a finalist for the Foster G. McGaw award in 1986 and 1996.

Spisso said she thought a site visit to Harborview in October made a difference in the selection of the award.

“[The] powerful personal stories of challenges and triumphs [from] individuals who received community outreach services, all of whom would likely have few options for care and support if Harborview’s programs didn’t exist, … communicated the message [to the selection committee] in volumes,” McNally said.

The other finalists included King’s Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, Ky., Riverside Health System in Newport News, Va., and Saint Joseph HealthCare in Lexington, Ky. They each received $10,000.

“The Harborview board is always inspired when we hear stories about individuals who have been positively impacted because Harborview improved their lives — with medical, psychological, social and/or practical resources tailored to their needs,” McNally said. “From our vantage point, community outreach is an essential part of who we are.”

The award was created in 1986 and is sponsored by the AHA, the Baxter International Foundation and the Cardinal Health Foundation.

The award will be officially presented in April at the AHA’s national conference in Washington, D.C.

[Reach reporter Chris Paredes at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]