Entry Details

About the Entry

Category: 
All Content > Individual Profile > Northeast

Title of entry: 
ENR Award of Excellence Winner Jim Ansara: Health Equity Humanitarian Delivers Hospitals for the World's Poorest

Issue or Publication date:
Print: April 4/11 2022 COVER AND pgs. 26-35

Publication name: 
Engineering News-Record

Publishing/parent company: 
BNP Media Inc.

View Website home page:
https://www.enr.com

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Description of the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

The sudden death in February 2022 of Partners in Health’s Dr. Paul Farmer—a global public-health visionary and muse to Jim Ansara—devastated Ansara, the dynamo behind the nonprofit Build Health International, which provides sustainable hospitals and clinics for the world’s poorest. But Ansara forged ahead, flying back to Boston from Farmer’s funeral in Florida for interviews with Nadine Post for ENR’s 2022 Award of Excellence profile. Meanwhile, Post regrouped, adjusting the storyline to include the impact of Farmer’s death on Ansara, BHI, and its public health partners. This included an ENR first—a sidebar by Ansara telling how Farmer had inspired him to create a replicable model for quality healthcare facilities in resource-poor regions. During Post’s reporting for her initial story on BHI, she learned that Ansara and the staff of BHI, which have roots in impoverished Haiti, are no strangers to tragedy. On July 8, 2021, Post arrived in Boston, only to learn that Haiti’s president had been assassinated the previous day, leaving the nation in chaos. A month later, two weeks before the BHI story closed, an earthquake hit Haiti. Post regrouped, chronicling the courage of the BHI team that provided aid during the crisis. She soon became determined to spread the word about BHI’s humanitarian mission, which led her to nominate Ansara for ENR’s top award. Her profile tells the rags-to-riches tale of the veteran builder, whose true calling became serving the needy.

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