Celebrating healthcare professionals at annual NCH Service Awards

Health workers at NCH were honored Thursday evening for doing great work at the Naples Grande, and it’s all part of the annual NCH Service Awards.

But this year, staff and employees were unaware of a special surprise, a new car.

The room the awards were held in was full of smiles. Some people at the awards ceremony had worked for NCH for the last 45 years. WINK News spoke to the CEO, who said the most important thing he wants the healthcare workers to know is to feel good about how they didn’t give up when things got tough, especially during the pandemic and, most recently, Hurricane Ian.

Thursday, NCH held its service awards, an annual banquet that honors employees who have been working for 10, 15, 20, and even 45 years at NCH.

But nobody, and especially not Aileen Adams, anticipated driving away and leaving the event in a brand-new car. For 20 years, Adams has worked as a pharmacist at NCH. She said every year has had a new set of obstacles.

“I started when handwritten orders, and then we went to an electronic medical record. Now we are on our second one, had lots of growth lots of changes we all worked together through Covid, which was very overwhelming, but really triumphant how we took care of people. It’s been great,” Adams said.

Paul Hiltz, the President and CEO, said every single person in the room is a winner, especially with the challenges many went through with the pandemic and, most recently Hurricane Ian.

“The Covid were exhausting with the mask the scary uneasiness, and then Ian we had 100 families who lost their home, but yet our employees kept coming to work to take care of their neighbors in southwest Florida I am so happy tonight we’re able to recognize them,” Hiltz said.

NCH said the reason why they stepped it up this year is because they recognize their employees have been through a lot of hoops over the last two years and this is their way of saying thank you.