St. Vincent’s Chilton hands out awards at ceremony

Published 3:50 pm Thursday, May 11, 2023

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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Ascension St. Vincent’s Chilton Hospital gave out some hardware and awards to some of their own colleagues on May 10 at its annual awards ceremony. The hospital was also recognized as a whole for earning an award from Professional Research Consultants for overall excellence.

Hospital administrator Shanon Hamilton conducted the awards ceremony and recognized the PRC award lastly. Hospitals have to meet certain thresholds to earn the award, and not many hospitals in the state of Alabama achieve those. When patients receive care at St. Vincent’s Chilton they fill out a patient satisfaction survey. What those patients say and the scores they give are what goes into deciding if a hospital achieves the PRC award.

“To be recognized for an award by PRC, that very few hospitals achieve, is a testament to the hard work that they do every single day,” Hamilton said. “It makes me proud to be a part of it, and we have some amazing associates here that do work every day that is unbelievable.”

Hamilton added that St. Vincent’s Chilton Hospital is the highest rated hospital in the state of Alabama on Google with a 4.7 rating.

Among the individual award winners were Carrie Lucas and Charlotte Dansby who won the Merrill N. and Julia H. Bradley Surgery Award. Angela Black and Jessica Davis both won the Marvin and Ruth Engel Award, and Erika Ray won the ROSE, Recognition of Service Excellence, Award. Annabelle Carson and Brittany Mims were recipients of the Sister Mary Francis Lofton, D.C. Scholarship, and Veronica Edward won the Ascension St. Vincent’s Chilton Healthcare Champion Award.

“Many of the individual awards were earned by coming to work every day and doing their job, but not just doing it but doing it with excellence,” Hamilton said. “When you come to work with the right attitude and you are here to serve as part of this ministry, it shows and people recognize that.”

Daryl Morgan was awarded the 2022 Laboratorian of the Year Award for his dedication in the lab at St. Vincent’s Chilton. Morgan has over 30 years of experience working in a laboratory and specializes in sticking babies for blood work as young as three days old.

Morgan also teaches courses for new nurses to work on ways to easily draw a patient’s blood. May 10 was an off day for Morgan, however, he was called in to teach one of the classes. Instead, he was recognized for winning the award.

“It was 100% a surprise,” Morgan said. “It really got me off guard. It is a matter of how you carry yourself, how you treat people and how well you know your craft.”

“We have something special here, and we want our community to come experience that,” Hamilton said.