Garmany was selected as the hospital’s Non-Clinical Manager of the Year, as well as Division One Non-Clinical Manager of the Year by parent company Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn.
“Josh has been a dedicated, dependable leader who always takes the initiative to get things done and his department has produced great results,” Patrick Trammell, CMC’s chief executive officer, said. “Being selected for our division is a rare feat when you consider that his nomination was compared to 20-plus other hospitals in our peer group,” Trammell added.
Gardner was recently recognized as an Hospital Hero by the Alabama Hospital Association, Northeast Alabama Council. Gardner has been with Cherokee Medical Center for 19 years and currently serves as the infection control practitioner, employee health coordinator and core measures abstractor. In 2011, the hospital was awarded the Press Ganey Top Improver Award for core measures performance, and Gardner’s colleagues credit her with having helped achieve that distinction.
According to her colleagues, she spearheaded efforts related to core measures compliance, infection prevention and elimination of catheter-associated infections. She is also much admired by her fellow employees for the strength she has demonstrated in recent years after having become clinically deaf because of a heredity condition. One of her co-workers recently stated that, “In the face of adversity, her courage, determination and commitment to make a difference in the lives of others is a living testament to the meaning of hospital hero.” In addition to her contributions to the hospital, Gardner has also travelled to Honduras on missionary trips to volunteer and support an orphanage for homeless and abandoned children.
Becky Smith, RN, was chosen as the Clinical Manager of the Year, as well as an Hospital Hero by the Alabama Hospital Association, Northeast Alabama Council. Smith serves as the ER Director at CMC. According to Trammel, Smith has essentially committed her life to CMC and has led the ER through several critically-important initiatives. “She is very deserving of this recognition and our praise and gratitude,” he added.
Smith has been a nurse with Cherokee Medical Center for the past 40 years and in her current position serves as emergency department director. Her colleagues have often attributed her leadership to the successful implementation of innovative programs, such as the emergency department “Door-to-Doctor Pledge” that has, year to date, decreased patient waiting times to 15 minutes. Smith has also been praised for her dedication to emergency medicine in Cherokee County. She is known to keep a scanner on at her home 24 hours a day so that she can always be prepared to help in the event of an emergency. As one of her co-workers recently said, “It is not a rare occasion that you will see Becky’s smiling face in the ED late at night, weekends or holidays.” Smith, a recipient of the Baptist Health System Excellence in Leadership Award, also serves as vice chairman of the local 911 Board and is a member of East Alabama Emergency Medical Services. Becky and her husband, Bobby Joe, have two children and five grandchildren and reside in Centre.
For more information, contact Leslie Harp at leslie_harp@chs.net or 256-622-2054.
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