Wheeler Presents First Staff Award for Integrity and Ethics

Wheeler’s first annual award for staff integrity and ethics honors a program manager whose attention to detail and focus on the needs of others sets her apart. 

Heather L. Clinger, MPH, CPS, program manager at Wheeler’s Connecticut Center for Prevention, Wellness, and Recovery, received the recognition at Wheeler’s annual all-staff breakfast and staff recognition event on December 7. 

“I am truly humbled and honored,” Clinger says. “I have always believed, at the end of the day, all that you truly have are your values, morals, and ethics.” 

Integrity is one of four institutional values at Wheeler, which were selected by staff in 2022, and also include compassion, diversity and inclusion, and teamwork. All staff were invited to nominate possible recipients for the 2023 Integrity and Ethics Award, and the winner was selected by staff from Wheeler’s Compliance Committee. 

The idea for the award sprung from the 2023 Health Care Compliance Association’s (HCCA’s) Corporate Compliance & Ethics week, November 5-11th.  The goal of the week was to highlight the importance of compliance and ethics within organizations.   

“The award proactively identifies staff for doing the right thing, again and again, and this should be officially acknowledged and celebrated,” says Linda Russo, LMFT, CPHQ, vice president of quality operations. “The nomination process was intentionally open to everyone, because peer recognition is powerful.  For someone to see you as a real stand-out for what you do every day, and go out of their way to nominate you, means you really make a statement through living our values.” 

Heather’s nomination by a peer cited her attention to detail, her focus on staying abreast of current external developments that affect her area of work, and her regular research and planning during projects to ensure staff and participants are safe, respected, valued, and recognized.