Texas County Memorial Hospital gave out top employee awards and honored 34 employees with service awards at The Twenty-Ninth Annual Celebration of TCMH Employees on Friday night at Faith Fellowship Church in Houston.  In attendance were approximately 125 employees, some with guests, for a total attendance of about 200 people.

Ashley Sullins of Licking took top honors as manager of the year, chosen by the hospital administrative team.

Sullins, an employee at TCMH since 2009, is a registered nurse and director of TCMH Home Health of the Ozarks.

“Ashley has had an excellent year,” Doretta Todd-Willis, chief nursing officer at TCMH, said. 

Sullins became director of Home Health of the Ozarks in 2010, and she lead the department in moving to a new office building in early 2011.

“Ashley has excellent organizational and leadership skills,” Willis explained.  “She has restructured staff offices to improve work flow for staff and for patient care, and she has made transitions into a new building go very smoothly.”

Linda Pamperien, chief financial officer at TCMH, noted that Sullins reached out to Pamperien early in her position, wanting to learn the business operation side of home health.

“I appreciate Ashley’s desire to be fiscally responsible,” Pamperien said, adding that the Home Health of the Ozarks staff is “very happy” under Sullins’ leadership.

“Ashley has a different style and approach to leading Home Health of the Ozarks,” Wes Murray, chief executive officer at TCMH, said.  “With Ashley’s leadership style, she has met all of our expectations as a manager, and she has exceeded our expectations by taking more responsibility on herself.”

Murray and Willis complimented Sullins’ passion and support for TCMH.

“Ashley cares about this organization,” Murray added, “And it shows in all aspects as she leads her department.”

Judy Warner of Bucyrus received the employee of the year honor. 

Employee of the year is limited to the individuals who have received the honor of employee of the month since the 2010 employee awards ceremony.  All employees are allowed to vote for employee of the year by choosing one employee of the month in a secret ballot vote.

Warner is a unit secretary in the medical surgical department at TCMH, and she has worked at the hospital for six years.  Warner won employee of the month honors at TCMH in March. 

Doctors, nurses, CNAs, visitors, patients and other departmental staff members all interact with Warner in her role as unit secretary.

“Judy is quiet by nature,” Murray said, “But she knows her job well.”

Warner is known for her willingness to take on tasks.  She was especially willing to learn and was instrumental in the success of the new wireless nurse call system implemented in the medical surgical department at TCMH in early 2010.

Murray described the unit secretary position as a “hot seat” with needs and requests coming from all over the hospital and from patients and visitors.

“It speaks highly of Judy to get the support from her peers throughout the hospital to win this award,” Murray said.

The manager of the year and the employee of the year were honored with an engraved plaque, $500 cash, a pin and a day of paid time off.

The TCMH Customer Quality Team honored two employees that exemplified excellent customer service in the hospital organization in 2011.   Diana Blackburn, a clerk in the business office, and Tracey Stewart, an aide in the dietary department, were chosen to receive the honor.

Blackburn and Stewart were each awarded a plaque for their efforts and given a cash award.

The Customer Quality Team also recognized the TCMH radiology department as “Customer Service Department of the Year”.  The department consistently provided excellent customer service to to patients, visitors and other departments within the hospital, while continuing to try to improve the quality of the service provided by the department.

The department will receive a special meal in their honor.

Murray and Omanez Fockler, chairperson of the TCMH board of trustees, recognized employees with service awards.  Recognized for five years of service were: Becky Brawley; Michael Drozdo; Krista Elliott; Crystal Finley; Geoffrey Hall; Valorie Hawkins; Nancy Hayes; Colleen Lebel; Brittney McNiell; Stephen Mitchell and Rebekah Viscioni.

Recognized for 10 years of service were: Hope Best; Abigail Gaither; Dr. Jeff Kerr; Lisa Merritt; Patty Norris; Frank Steelman and Vicky Tidwell.

Recognized for 15 years of service were:  Brenda Barton; Yvonne Cope; Andree Havens; Barbara Holaday; Linda Pamperien and Delores Warner.

Kelly Bell; Kathy Carr; Angie Gimpel and Carol Turner were recognized for 20 years of service. 

Nancy Branson; Connie Flowers and Kim Jordan were recognized for 25 years of service. 

Terri Bailey was recognized for 30 years of service.

Linda Sullins was recognized for 35 years of service.

TCMH also gave out prizes to hospital employees that had volunteered at hospital events throughout the year.