By Dr. Bruce Altevogt, Vice President and Head External Medical Engagement within Pfizer Inc.’s Hospital Business Unit
As we celebrate Healthcare Ready’s 15 years of impact, it’s important to focus on what sets this organization apart from others. Since it was established in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating blow to cities along the Gulf Coast, the nonprofit has worked to strengthen our nation’s healthcare supply chain, shore up the resiliency of communities, and break down the barriers so that medical products can be delivered to patients in need, especially those who are most at-risk when natural disasters strike.
Healthcare Ready accomplishes this by ensuring that, as a community, we’re working together across sectors to meet the needs of patients, especially at the most vulnerable times.
Healthcare Ready: A facilitator, convenor, and trusted voice across sectors
Healthcare Ready’s mission is to serve as a facilitator, an integrator, and a convener between the private sector, public sector, and nonprofit sectors. Through many years of hard work and experience, Healthcare Ready has been able to successfully position itself as that convener—to be that trusted voice. And to ensure that the private, public and nonprofit sectors all work in a coordinated and integrated fashion to meet the needs of the vulnerable patient populations.
The role of an organization like Healthcare Ready is even more critical in uncertain times like the ones we face now. As an employee of Pfizer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, I can say that, for us, organizations like Healthcare Ready are critical in that they provide a voice to the government, to other key stakeholders, that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to have. Healthcare Ready communicates in a manner that enables the private sector to work more constructively and efficiently with the public sector; without that, there would be more challenges and barriers.
I’ve had the privilege of serving on Healthcare Ready’s board of directors since 2017. As we look ahead to the next 15 years, it’s my hope that the organization maintains its focus on its mission, especially today, as we prepare for yet another uncertain year. Healthcare Ready has a unique opportunity to provide services to those who need them and an opportunity to serve a unique role to governments and the private sector. It’s a big mission for a small organization, which is a testament to the breadth and depth of the many partnerships it has created along the way; I look forward to Healthcare Ready’s continued success!
