Honors an individual whose job performance is considered exemplary by people within their organizations, peers and community members.

Ryan Estes 

Title: Treatment operations director 

Organization: Coastal Horizons Center Inc. 

What the nominator said: “Ryan Estes is deserving of the Health Care Hero Award as he has and continues to make a significant positive impact on the quality of healthcare in Wilmington. He provides fiscal, policy and clinical oversight to Coastal’s programs in 27 counties. Ryan is a strategic thinker and is always looking for ways to meet the needs of those we serve. He was both instrumental and successful in building our Child First, Day Treatment and Intensive Family Preservation Services. 

“Child First is a nationally-recognized, evidenced-based, infant and young child mental health treatment and prevention program that uses a stress- and trauma-focused approach to support the highest-risk families. Services are conducted in the home setting. Seventy percent of children treated within the Child First program show improvement in social emotional functioning and 67% show reduced disruptive behaviors and aggression … 

“Ryan is very skilled at procuring funding to meet our community’s needs. ... Through state and federal funding, he has been able to bring $15M in new services to the tri-county area. Within Coastal Horizons, Ryan creates initiatives to meet staff needs ...” 

- Elizabeth Redenbaugh, development director

David Schultz

Title: Hospitalist and associate chief medical officer 

Organization: Wilmington Health 

What the nominator said: “Dr. Schultz wears many hats in our organization; including bearing the title of hospitalist and Associate Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Schultz dedicates himself to Wilmington Health’s mission of being ‘committed to using collaborative, evidence-based medicine in providing the highest quality of care to the patients we serve.’ … 

“Dr. Schultz was directly involved in launching the Today’s Care+, which is a service to our community providing low-cost, high-quality, innovative access to emergency-related care. Thus far, this effort has decreased the volume of emergency room visits in our region; reserving the usage of our emergency rooms for our most critical cases. 

“Additionally, Dr. Schultz has served as a clinical voice of expertise for the launch of Anchor Senior Care Advantage, which has allowed our community members 60+ to attain a personal physician, have physician-directed care and access to care that is both comprehensive and coordinated. In addition to these initiatives, Dr. Schultz has served on the front lines as a Hospitalist serving at NHRMC throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

- Desirae Hrynko, marketing manager 

David Stanley

Title: Executive director 

Organization: Brunswick County Health and Human Services 

What the nominator said: “It takes a true leader to consistently motivate, inspire and engage a team through a health crisis and a dangerous hurricane while supporting four departments with more than 200 employees—and that is exactly what we have in our Health and Human Services Executive Director David Stanley. 

“…Ultimately why I am nominating him for this recognition—is that David has an invaluable skill in bringing individuals together and fostering their unique talents to achieve impossible goals. Never has David’s leadership been more crucial than during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

“David had the foresight to anticipate COVID-19 far before the first positive case was identified in March, spurring his team to develop a COVID-19 response plan in December 2019. 

“As more cases were identified and changes in federal and state recommendations constantly shifted, David was a steadying force for our organization—often contacting and working with local and state officials to clarify restrictions and guidance to ensure the spirit of the regulations and executive orders was communicated correctly with the public …” 

- Randell Woodruff, Brunswick County manager 

Read more about all of the 2020 Health Care Heroes finalists here.