The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce held its annual Health Care Heroes Awards Luncheon, recognizing the outstanding work of Miami-Dade’s top medical professionals.
Two Jackson Health System employees were finalists, and one of them was named a Health Care Hero. Cathy Herring, CTRS, a recreation therapist at Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital, won top honors in the “Health Care Professionals” category, beating a doctor from the Miami Jewish Health Systems and a doctor from Miami Children’s Hospital. Cindy Magnole, R.N., B.S.N., injury prevention coordinator at Jackson Memorial Hospital and a nurse in the Chaplin Family Pediatric Emergency Room at Holtz Children’s Hospital at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center, was a finalist in the “Nurses” category.Cathy Herring’s life work has inspired and transformed the lives of countless others. For the past 21 years, she has encouraged, motivated and made it possible for adults and children with life-changing injuries to remain active members of their families and their community.
As a certified therapeutic recreation specialist in Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital, Cathy uses recreation as a treatment to help her patients in their recovery. Through community outings – such as a swim with dolphins, picnics at the park and hand cycling excursions – Cathy’s patients have the opportunity to incorporate and practice the skills gained in rehabilitation to use in real-life situations. The ultimate goal is to reintegrate people with spinal cord injuries, including paraplegics and quadriplegics, into their community, regardless of their injury.
Cathy’s commitment to her patients is evident in everything she does. Once a month, she cooks and sells hotdogs in Alamo Park at Jackson Memorial to raise money for the swim with dolphins in Islamorada that she organizes for her patients with spinal cord injuries. She also occasionally brings her Labrador/golden retriever mix, Jean, with her to Jackson to work as .jpg)
“Canine Companion” motivating and inspiring patients in the rehab hospital.
“Canine Companion” motivating and inspiring patients in the rehab hospital.Cindy Magnole has dedicated her life to educating people on how to live more safely. As coordinator of the injury prevention program at Jackson, Cindy trains and educates thousands of children, teens, parents, businesspeople, seniors and injury specialists each year.
Away from her duties as a pediatric emergency room nurse at Holtz, Cindy spends many nights and weekends participating in local events, health fairs and task forces to prevent injuries, underage drinking and violence.
Cindy is widely praised for her dedication to injury prevention education to the community – free of charge – in an attempt to reduce the number of preventable injuries and deaths.
