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Merle Jane Harpst awards presented
CAMBRIDGE, Neb. -- The prestigious annual Merle Jane Harpst Awards were presented to one licensed and one non-licensed Tri Valley Health System employee at the annual recognition event on Saturday, January 7, 2017 at the Heritage Plaza.
The award was established in 1998 to honor the late Merle Jane Harpst, and her 20-plus years as employee and administrator at Cambridge Memorial Hospital and Tri Valley Health System.
The awards were presented by Mark Harpst, Merle Harpst's grandson and Plant Operations Director for Tri Valley Health System. Each year employees are asked to nominate their co-workers that "follow the guiding principles that Merle lived and worked by," said Mark. The criterion for this award is an individual that sets an outstanding example of caring service for residents, patients, or fellow employees. Recipients of the award each received a monetary gift and a plaque in appreciation. The presentation of the award in the Heritage Plaza had a special meaning to Mark. "The Heritage Plaza retirement living concept was the vision and gift of Kitty Perkins. Mrs. Perkins worked closely with Merle and hospital board chairman, Ome Shoemaker, to bring this vision to reality.... When the need arose to add on 10 apartments to the Plaza in 1979 and 1980, Merle was directly involved in leading this project to completion."
This year's winner for the non-licensed Harpst Award is Ciprian Galarneau. Ciprian has been the Information Technology Director since 2014. Part of Ciprian's nomination from his peers read, "Ciprian works tirelessly behind the scenes to keep our technology working properly. Not only is Ciprian skilled in what he does, he is able to empathize with the end user and is that bridge or translator between IT and patient care. He is an excellent example of what the Merle Jane Harpst Award represents."
The non-licensed nominees included: Sue Earnest, Brad Nelson, Celia Nelson, Jessica Paisley, Mallory Palmer, Wendy Shifflet, and Becky Wallen.
This year's winner for the licensed Harpst Award is Daniele Wright, RN. Daniele began working as a hospital night shift RN in 2015. She also served as the interim OB Coordinator before her current role as the Clinic Triage Nurse and PRN Hospital RN. Part of Daniele's nomination read, "Daniele is a true ray of sunshine. She knows her job and is exceptional at it. She is very informative to the patients and does whatever she can to help them."
The licensed nominees this year were: Kyle Broadfoot, PTA; Jeff Coleman, LPN; Lennie Deaver, MD; Kim Doyle, RN; and Shelly Kaspar-Cope, MD.
Along with recognizing the recipients of the Merle Jane Harpst Awards, Tri Valley Health System CEO, Deborah Herzberg recognized those employees reaching a 5 year benchmark in their years of service.
Recognized for their years of service were:
5 Years: Dr. Shiuvaun Jaeger, Kelsey Landreth, Gloria Paisley, Helena Perks, Ashlee Springer, Mike Walinder, and Loyd White
10 years: Joyce Deaver, Joan Magorian, Janet McCarville, Caren McCoy, Janet Riley, and Wendy Witte
15 years: Deb Gregg, Michele Lewis, and Dora Shaw
20 years: Ross Ebbers, Charity Gonzales, Dr. Rachelle Kaspar-Cope, and Marjorie Paisley
25 years: Julie Sayer
30 years: Jan Mowry
35 years: Terry Fichtner
40 years: Pam Maatsch