Sovah Health – Martinsville, which is part of LifePoint Health, recently announced that Heather Ashe has been recognized as the hospital’s 2020 Mercy Award winner. Ashe is one of more than 80 other individuals across LifePoint Health, a leading healthcare company that employs more than 50,000 individuals, to receive this award.
The annual Mercy Award program was established in 2002 to honor the life of Scott Mercy, LifePoint’s founding chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). It recognizes one employee from each of LifePoint’s healthcare facilities, and the Health Support Center based in Brentwood, Tenn., who profoundly touches the lives of others and best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded. The Mercy Award is considered the highest honor a LifePoint employee can receive.
“At Sovah Health, we share LifePoint’s commitment to making communities healthier, and we realize that the hard work and dedication of our employees is critical to our success,” said Dale Alward, chief executive officer of Sovah Health – Martinsville. “Every day, Heather goes above and beyond to demonstrate a level of care and compassion that we want every person who enters our facilities to experience. We are extremely proud to recognize Heather for her efforts on behalf of our patients and our community.”
Ashe serves as the Director of Pharmacy and has been part of the Sovah Health team for 12 years. She was frequently seen going above and beyond for her employees during the COVID-19 pandemic by being creative and working with the team to adjust staffing so team members would be less financially impacted, ensuring all team members could attend a colleagues granddaughter’s memorial service, and also stepped in as a pharmacist during these times so the pharmacy could still provide optimal service.
Ashe goes above and beyond to think of others even while going through hardships herself. During the grief of losing her mother, she reached out to a team member to check on her father who was undergoing heart surgery. She was also observed helping a confused and disoriented gentleman who was trying to get into our oncology area after hours by calling his family to be sure he got home safely. Ashe frequently follows up with patients and their families after they are discharged from our hospital to check that they are doing well and received great care.
Ashe leads the pharmacy’s antibiotic stewardship projects, resulting in better care for our patients and exercising financial stewardship in her efficient use of medications. Her knowledge and skills are sought after by physicians and colleagues. Her willingness to share adds great value to those with whom she works. She voluntarily takes on a leadership role in the community through both her church activities for middle-school age kids and the United Way as Board Chair for Smart Beginnings, who are readying the community’s youth for school and life.
Each hospital winner, including Ashe, will be considered for LifePoint’s 2020 company-wide Mercy Award. The company-wide winner will be announced this fall and honored during a special ceremony in Nashville in October, to which Heather and all hospital winners are invited to attend.
Sovah Health also congratulated all the Mercy Award nominees, inlcuding Kenny Seale-Wilson, Dixie Marshall, Tonya Hodges, and Sandra Hairston.
