In year 2003, The Courage Fund gave out more than 5,500 Courage Awards to healthcare workers to recognize them for their extraordinary courage and selfless dedication in the fight against the deadly SARS virus that threatened the entire nation.

Going forward from year 2004, the Healthcare Humanity Awards will be given out to outstanding healthcare workers, who are inspirational role models who go the extra mile to offer care and comfort to the sick and the infirmed. The Awards aim to underscore that healthcare is a noble profession, and not merely a job. The Awards will raise public recognition and respect for the healthcare profession.

The Healthcare Humanity Awards will be given out annually.

Definition of Healthcare Worker
For the purpose of the Award, a healthcare worker is defined as “any person whose job involves providing patient-care services or essential ancillary patient-care related services, that has impact on the quality of care for patients.”

The person may be:

· employed by a healthcare institution/provider (including government-restructured hospitals, private hospitals, community hospitals, step-down nursing care facilities and private clinics); or
· employed by a sub-contractor company engaged by a healthcare institution/provider to provide patient-care or essential ancillary patient-care related services; or
· employed by an independent contractor company that provides essential ancillary patient-care related services; or
· self-employed as a healthcare provider.

With the above definition, healthcare workers include doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, healthcare attendants, general practitioners, medical locums, ambulance drivers, contracted cleaners in the hospitals/clinics, etc. Backroom administrative staff who do not provide patient-care or essential ancillary patient-care related services are excluded from the definition of "healthcare worker".

Qualifying Criteria
The nominee must be a healthcare worker who exemplifies several of these values:
· Courage
· Extraordinary dedication
· Selflessness
· Steadfastness in ethics
· Compassion and Humanity

Through exemplary conduct and manifestation of the above values in the course of work, the nominee should be someone who lives up to being “true to the calling” of a caregiver for the sick and the infirmed. The nominee should be an inspiration to other healthcare workers and the public, and brings embodiment to the strength and virtues of the human spirit.

Consideration will be given as to whether the nominee has manifested the above values throughout his/her daily conduct or whether such values were manifested in a “once off” extraordinary incident.

The nationality of the healthcare worker is immaterial, so long as the healthcare worker has been working in and contributing to the healthcare industry in Singapore.

To remove all possible ambiguities, it is to be stated here that the Healthcare Humanity Awards is

NOT
· a Long Service award;
· an award for Service Efficiency or Service Excellence per se;
· a Productivity award;
· an award for professional achievement.

Nominees who have won previous years' awards may qualify to be nominated again, provided that the new nomination must be based on new deeds/actions of the nominee that had not previously been the basis of the earlier award. For example, if a nominee had won the Courage Award 2003 (the forerunner of Healthcare Humanity Awards) for deeds/actions during the SARS crisis, the nominee may be nominated again for Healthcare Humanity Awards, provided that the nomination must not be based on the same deeds/actions cited for the earlier Courage Award.

Value of Award
The award will comprise a medallion and cash award of $1,500.

Nomination Procedure
Nominations are invited as follows:

(a) For healthcare workers who are employed in an organisation
Nominations must be made by their employer, to be signed off by the Chief Executive Officer (or equivalent). For organisations submitting more than 1 nominee, nominations must be ranked in order of priority.

(b) For self-employed healthcare workers
Nominations must be submitted by a fellow peer, or patient, or any member of the public, who must not be family-related to the nominee in any way. Self-nominations are not allowed.

All nominations must be submitted in the official nomination form. The nomination must be accompanied by a citation of the nominee's exemplary conduct/deeds/actions which manifest the values of courage, extraordinary dedication, selflessness, steadfastness in ethics, compassion and humanity.

Nomination forms are obtainable from:
· The Courage Fund Secretariat
c/o National Healthcare Group, 6 Commonwealth Lane, Level 6, GMTI Building, Singapore 149547

· The Courage Fund website
c/o National Healthcare Group website www.nhg.com.sg

Courage fund online nomination form 2012

Nomination form download (181kb doc).

Completed forms are to be submitted to:
Healthcare Humanity Awards Committee
c/o National Healthcare Group
6 Commonwealth Lane, Level 6, GMTI Building, Singapore 149547

For each year, a closing date will be announced and posted on this website.

Judging
A independent judging panel will be formed to evaluate the nominations received. The judging panel may interview the nominee and/or the nominee's reporting officer, peers or patients as necessary.

The decision of the judging panel shall be final. No correspondence or enquiry on the selection of the awardees will be entertained.

Enquiries
For any enquiries, please contact the Healthcare Humanity Awards secretariat at telephone 6496 6869, or email to: couragefund@nhg.com.sg
 

HEALTHCARE HUMANITY AWARDS 2004-2012
For the inaugural batch of awardees for year 2004, 34 awardees were selected from a total of 171 nominations received from both private and public sector healthcare employers.

The awardees received their awards from President Nathan at a ceremony on 31 May 2004, to commemorate the anniversary of Singapore's SARS-free status.

For the subsequent years for 2005 to 2012, the number of nominations received and awards given out were: