From the Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter
April 2011 Edition
Peggy O’Connor, RN, MMHC, COHN, HRM, recently joined the MNA staff as an associate director in the Division of Health and Safety. She brings more than 30 years worth of professional expertise to the MNA, including expertise in areas such as occupational health and risk management and ergonomic program development.
Her professional career prior to joining the MNA was at Jordan Hospital Systems in Plymouth where she worked as director of employee health, director of occupational health and risk management and variance manager. Her record of accomplishment as a leader in her field is impressive, including:
- Establishing Jordan’s “employee health department,” and developing medical surveillance standards for high-risk job descriptions
- Developing an ergonomic program that reduced the frequency and severity of work-related injuries
- Creating an occupational health department that provided services to over 2,400 businesses in southeastern Massachusetts
- Forming and overseeing an “international travel clinic”
- Managing the system’s self insurance workers’ compensation program
- Developing and implementing countless education programs for nurses and other hospital employees—from hepatitis prevention and hazard communication plans, to chemical hygiene and cadmium control plans.
“We are excited to welcome Peg to the MNA’s division of health and safety,” said Dorothy McCabe, RN, director of the MNA’s division of nursing. “She brings extensive experience as a former health care director in the areas of planning, development, implementation and evaluation of hospital health and safety. She is known for her support of nurses who are advocating for patient safety, and her experience in identifying system weaknesses and creating a team approach for problem solutions is exemplary. She joins Christine Pontus in the health and safety division. Together they will be a formidable force in solving member issues in the health and safety field.”
O’Connor holds an M.S. in health care management from Cambridge College, and a B.S. from Curry College. She holds numerous professional certificates, and is affiliated with the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, the American Society of Healthcare Risk Management and the Hospital Employee Health Nurses Association. In addition, O’Connor sits on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Association of Occupational Health Nurses.
“I am extremely excited to be part of the MNA,” said O’Connor during a recent interview with the MassNurse. “And I am ready to bring my skills to a larger group of nurses in order to help create a work environment for them that will continue to grow safer with time.”
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