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MARQUETTE, MI (June 5, 2019) – UP Health System – Marquette recently announced that Debbie Wood, a Senior Cardiovascular Tech in the Cath Lab, has been recognized as the hospital’s 2019 Mercy Award winner. The Mercy Award recognizes one employee from each of LifePoint Health’s hospitals who profoundly touches the lives of others and best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded.
The Mercy Award is an annual recognition program established in 2001 to honor the life and contributions of Scott Mercy, LifePoint’s founding chairman and chief executive officer. The award is the highest honor a LifePoint employee can receive.
“We work alongside extraordinary people every day who show us how to live by LifePoint’s High Five Guiding Principles,” said Brian Sinotte, CEO and Market President for UP Health System – Marquette. “Debbie is one of those extraordinary people. She leads by example and goes above and beyond in serving our patients and community. We are so grateful she is part of our team here at UP Health System.”
Billy Ackerly of the Cath Lab said, “Debbie is one of the most compassionate health care workers I have ever been around. She is the glue that holds the Cath Lab together. She is a shining star and proves every day that she really, really cares about this facility and the patients we take care of.”
Debbie received five nominations for the Mercy Award. One nomination made by Katlyn Kortz reads, “Debbie does so much for the Cath Lab- both for her patients and coworkers alike. She can be found on a daily basis at work early or staying late to complete all of the extra tasks she’s taken on because she cares so much that it’s done right. But her dedication to this hospital and its patients does not stop there. A patient came to us (no stranger to a heart cath; he had his first in 1995) and asked where Little Debbie was. He said this would be his first case without her. But this is not an isolated incident, I don’t think a week goes by where a patient comes through and doesn’t ask where Debbie is, or if she still works in the department. That’s because she goes above and beyond for every single patient, and checks up on almost all of them before their discharge.”
Each hospital winner, including Annie, will be considered for LifePoint’s 2019 companywide Mercy Award. The companywide winner will be announced this summer and honored during a ceremony in Nashville, Tenn., in August, to which Annie and all hospital winners are invited to attend.
