Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital’s Anna Marie Batelaan has received the 2020 Hospital Social Worker of the Year award from the Ontario Brain Injury Association. The honour is one of the Awards of Excellence in Brain Injury Rehabilitation, designed to acknowledge people who consistently provide outstanding service to the brain injury community. The Hospital Social Worker of the Year distinction recognizes a hospital social worker at a trauma or rehabilitation centre who regularly exceeds typical duties in their efforts to help brain injury survivors and their families.

“I am honoured to be the recipient of the Ontario Brain Injury Association’s Social Worker of the Year Award and to be chosen amongst a great selection of nominees. To first be nominated and then chosen for this award by peers in the community, colleagues, and clients and families is very meaningful. In my role as social worker, I am able to witness and support clients and families at a very stressful and challenging time in their lives,” says Batelaan.

Elaine Widgett, senior director, inpatient rehabilitation and complex continuing care, says, “Anna Marie is a compassionate and caring social worker. She advocates strongly for her clients and families to ensure the best possible outcomes. Her experience with working both in the community and in hospital settings provides her with a keen understanding of family needs and how best to support recovery from a physical and emotional perspective.”

Batelaan has been a social worker for 24 years, the last 20 of which she has spent at Holland Bloorview. As part of the brain injury rehab team, she has worked with outpatient clients and their families, and more recently, clients and families moving through the rehab process. She provides counselling support, resource connection and brain injury psychosocial education, offering the best possible care to clients and families living with the effects of an acquired brain injury.

“I am pleased to see so many clients and families I work with find rich, meaningful lives post-brain injury, and pleased to know I may have had some small part of their success,” Batelaan says.

Winners of the 2020 Awards of Excellence were determined by strong advocacy and positive outcome for their clients, years of service, credentials, number of public votes and supporting testimonials.

The awards, for which winners were nominated, were presented via Zoom on September 17.