What makes someone a Health Care Hero?
That was the question facing a panel of judges, which had the daunting task of wading through stacks of nominations for this year’s awards from the Greater Wilmington Business Journal.
Do they go above and beyond in their daily work? Have they contributed an idea or formed an organization that impacts the community? Are they heroic – whether in big, life-saving ways or quiet, everyday ways?
In many cases, the standouts were clear. In others, the deliberations were tough.
But on the following pages, you can read more about the health care providers, administrators and community volunteers those judges deemed above and beyond.
They are this year’s Health Care Heroes, nominated by patients, peers, co-workers and families.
Their common thread: their impact on patients in Southeastern North Carolina.
Included in the awards special section is the finalists in 10 categories: Community Achievement, Community Outreach, First Responder, Innovation in Health Care, Health Care Executive, PA/NP, Physician, Nurse, Health Care Professional and Volunteer.
Read about their accomplishments in their nominators’ own words on the links below.
These finalists are addressing some of the most pressing health issues facing the community.
The category winners will be announced Nov. 15 at the Health Care Heroes awards event.
Also at the event, Charlie Hardy, founding dean of UNCW’s College of Health and Human Services, will be honored as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement award.
Since he took the helm of the college that formed in 2010, enrollment in its programs has continued to rise as demand for health-related fields grows. (Read more about what Hardy has done, both at CHHS and during his lengthy career in North Carolina, here.)
Congratulations to all the finalists and winners of this year’s Health Care Heroes awards.
– Vicky Janowski, editor
Greater Wilmington Business Journal
[email protected]
On Twitter:
@vickyjanowski
Here are this year's Health Care Heroes finalists:
Lifetime Achievement:
- Charlie Hardy, Founding Dean, UNCW's College of Health and Human Services
Community Achievement:
- Karen Isaacs, MD, MPH, New Hanover Regional Medical Center - Coastal Family Medicine
- Lance Lewis, Director of Structural Heart Disease Program, New Hanover Regional Medical Center Physician Group - Cape Fear Heart Associates
- Christy Spivey, Administrator for Regional Services, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Community Outreach:
- Philip Brown, MD/Chief Physician Executive, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- Lyle Leuck, ZERO Champion, ZERO - The End of Prostate Cancer
- Olivia Rice, Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, Chocolate Milk of Wilmington
First Responder:
- Tommy Batson, Fire Marshal & Assistant Emergency Management Director, Pender County
- David Dudding, Battalion Chief, Pender EMS & Fire
- Steven Still, Emergency Management Director, New Hanover County
Health Care Executive:
- Clell Hamm, Owner, Hamm Hearing Aid Center
- Carol Northup, Vice President, Patient Care Services and CNO/COO, Dosher Memorial Hospital
- Shelbourn Stevens, President, Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center
Health Care Professional:
- Deanna Crescenzi, Telemetry Monitor Technician, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- Angela Livingood, Pharmacy Manager, Pender Memorial Hospital and New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- John Popella, Director, New Hanover Regional Medical Center's AirLink / VitaLink / Regional Transfer Center
Innovation in Health Care:
- Jenean LaCorte, Para-Medical Tattoo Artist, Restorative Tattoos
- Brian Lanier, President and Founder, Promina Health-Direct Primary Care
- Joseph Pino, Executive Director, South East Area Health Education Center; Associate Dean and Campus Director, UNC School of Medicine Wilmington Campus; Vice-President of Graduate Medical Education, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
Nurse Practitioner / Physician Assistant:
- Barbara Suzy Diggle-Fox, Assistant Professor / Ph.D., GNP, ANP, B-C, University of North Carolina Wilmington
- Victoria Oxendine, Manager of Ambulatory Services, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- Megan Whitley, PA-C, New Hanover Regional Medical Center Physician Group - Cape Fear Heart Associates
Nurse:
- Dana Eder, Wound Care Program Coordinator, New Hanover Regional Medical Center Home Care
- Mandy O'Hara, Director of Patient Care Services, Lower Cape Fear Hospice
- Belinda Phillips, Registered Nurse and Lactation Consultant, Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center
Physician:
- Toren Davis, Medical Director / Facility Physician, New Hanover Regional Medical Center - Coastal Family Medicine
- William Hope, General Surgery Residency Program Director, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- Bill Sutton, Medical Director / Physician, EmergeOrtho
Volunteer:
- Otelia Blanks, Lower Cape Fear Hospice
- Logan Jones, Pender Memorial Hospital
- Nona Rogers, New Hanover Regional Medical Center Surgical Pavillion
About the judging:
Each year, the Business Journal opens up the nominations process to the community for the Health Care Heroes awards.
Our outside judging panel combs through the nominations and applications to pick the finalists and winners in each of the 10 categories as well as the Lifetime Achievement honor.
Judges who know or work with the nominees disclosed any potential conflicts. In the cases in which judges were nominated in a category, they were recused from the deliberation process.
Editor’s note: Charlie Hardy served as a judge this year and recused himself from discussions about the Lifetime Achievement category since he was nominated for it.
- Johnsie Davis, New Hanover Regional Medical Center
- Charlie Hardy, UNCW College of Health and Human Service
- Jim Hundley Sr., retired physician and businessman
- Paige Ward Lippard, Novant Health
- John Powell Livingston, New Hanover County-Pender Medical Society representative
- Elaine Loyack, Delta Dental
- Terrie Priest, Lower Cape Fear Hospice
- Brian Stillmock, PNC Bank
- Jason Wheeler, Pathfinder Wealth Consulting