Margaret (Peggy) E. Cwik / Peggy Cwik Lifetime Achievement Award

Margaret (Peggy) E. Cwik, nee Springer, died January 6, 2007 of cancer. Peggy was a longtime member of the Chicagoland Healthcare Risk Management Society (CHRMS) and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM).

Peggy was there in the beginning years of both CHRMS and ASHRM as our healthcare profession was emerging and starting to define itself. She served on many committees, volunteered for many more projects and authored healthcare risk management-related newsletter articles and journal chapters.  She served on the Executive Board and held the position of President of CHRMS in 2001-2002. At one time or another, she served on or chaired most all CHRMS committees, many of them multiple terms. Over the years since CHRMS establishment in 1980, she presented at chapter educational programs on topics she was known for nationally. She chaired the CHRMS/ISHRM Host Committee when ASHRM was in Chicago in 1993 and was an invaluable member of the same host committee when AHSRM was again in Chicago in 1999. She made significant contributions as a volunteer and made being part of any project great fun, always inducing more laughter than you could almost bear at times. Through all this, she was a strong advocate for patient safety, long before the movement gained momentum. And throughout her professional career, she always spoke up for the unsung heroes on healthcare, those on the frontline.  In 2001, she earned the Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her years of service and dedication to CHRMS.

In the early to mid-70’s, Peggy practiced nursing at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois and at Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, Illinois before taking risk management consulting positions with insurance organizations such as Alexander and Alexander, St. Paul, and AIG.  Risk Management was a natural fit, even before it was a profession. She earned her nursing diploma from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital School of Nursing in Chicago and her Bachelor’s degree from Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois.

Peggy worked with healthcare clients all over the country and traveled to every state in the union and many countries abroad. She loved to travel, but she also loved her home in Hoffman Estates. She volunteered for the Little Sisters of the Poor in Palatine, Illinois and other organizations. Peggy was known for her extraordinary sense of humor, her personal warmth to anyone and everyone, her generosity to many and her insights and perspective on life, work and current events. She was a force and a light never to be duplicated.

To commemorate Peggy’s dedication, leadership, creativity and volunteer hours, the CHRMS Executive Board unanimously decided on January 15, 2007 to rename the CHRMS Lifetime achievement Award to the Margaret E. Cwik Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Peggy Cwik Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded to a CHRMS member who is/has: positive recognition in the health care risk management profession at a local, state, national, or international level; supports the profession of health care risk management through interactions with other members and non-members; maintains a professional status and is a role model in health care risk management. Displays a willingness to share and communicate information within the community to support and promote the importance of the healthcare risk management field. 

Past recipients: