HCA Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: HCA), one of the nation’s leading healthcare providers, today presented its annual HCA Healthcare Awards of Distinction to recipients at a ceremony in Nashville. The HCA Healthcare Awards of Distinction—which include the Frist Humanitarian Awards, the Innovators Award and the Excellence in Nursing Awards—are the highest honors HCA Healthcare bestows on employees, physicians and volunteers.

The Frist Humanitarian Award recognizes the highest achievements in serving others; the Innovators Award recognizes creative new ideas for enhancing quality of care and efficiency; and the Excellence in Nursing Award recognizes the highest levels of performance in the field of nursing.

“The HCA Healthcare Awards of Distinction celebrate the colleagues, physicians and volunteers who inspire us all,” said Sam Hazen, chief executive officer of HCA Healthcare. “The recipients being honored today exemplify the mission and values of HCA Healthcare as they continue to serve with selflessness both within and outside of our facilities.”

Frist Humanitarian Award Recipients

The Frist Humanitarian Award recognizes members of the HCA Healthcare family whose work and lives embody the humanitarian principles upon which our organization was founded. Created in 1971 and named in honor of Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Sr. (1910 – 1998), this award honors individuals within our organization who raise the bar by demonstrating a level of commitment and caring that goes beyond everyday acts of kindness, and who inspire us with their compassion, dedication and spirit.

Frist Humanitarian Award employee and volunteer recipients receive a $10,000 cash gift and a $10,000 gift to a charity of their choice, while the physician recipient receives a $20,000 gift to the charity of their choice.

Recipients of the 49^th annual Frist Humanitarian Award are: Diana Elizabeth Moll, CCLS, a child life specialist at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho; Emeka J. Nchekwube, MD, a neurosurgeon at Regional Medical Center of San Jose in San Jose, California; and Jo Watson, a volunteer at TriStar NorthCrest Medical Center in Springfield, Tennessee.

“HCA Healthcare was founded on a steadfast dedication to the care and improvement of human life,” said Hazen. “It is an honor to present this year’s esteemed recipients with the Frist Humanitarian Award as they live out the vision of our company’s founders.”

Diana Elizabeth Moll is a child life specialist for the robust pediatric program at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Known as “the pulse of pediatrics” throughout the Idaho Falls community, Moll is a true patient advocate and an integral part of the hospital’s employee advisory group, actively leading projects to boost colleague morale. Her support of a local food bank resulted in a $5,000 prize for the division and a $10,000 national prize. In addition, Moll is active with non-profit organizations focused on resources for children, volunteering eight years in a row with Camp Magical Moments, a summer camp for children with cancer, and six years with Heartstone Children’s Grief Group.

Emeka J. Nchekwube, MD, a neurosurgeon at Regional Medical Center of San Jose, has dedicated his life to providing quality, impactful care to the most underserved communities in the Bay Area for more than 40 years. Described as not only a healer, but a comforter and compassionate neighbor, Dr. Nchekwube is widely known for treating patients with Parkinson’s disease and cancer. In addition to his medical expertise, he has successfully helped to develop agricultural pest control systems to help address food insecurities in developing countries.

Jo Watson has set the record for volunteer hours with 41,000 over 27 years at TriStar NorthCrest Medical Center in Springfield, Tennessee. Now 93, she works two shifts per week at the information desk. She has also worked in the hospital’s surgery waiting room as a family liaison. Widely known as the “Pink Lady” due to the immense pride she has for wearing her pink volunteer coat, Watson has positively impacted countless patients, families and colleagues. Watson brings a calming presence to the hospital, often helping to put patients’ families at ease as she escorts them to their destinations.

HCA Healthcare Innovators Award Recipient

HCA Healthcare was created through the vision of founders Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Sr., Mr. Jack Massey and Dr. Thomas “Tommy” Frist, Jr. and today HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 35 million patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives. Created in 2010, the Innovators Award honors the organization’s legacy of innovation by recognizing creative thinkers who develop new ways to enhance patient experience and care. The Innovators Award recipient receives a $10,000 cash gift and a $10,000 donation to the charity of the recipient’s choice.

This year’s Innovators Award recipient is Nathan Watkins, manager, software engineering at corporate information technology group (ITG) in Nashville, Tennessee. Since joining HCA Healthcare as an intern more than six years ago, Watkins has continually shown a passion for innovation and collaboration in support of patient care. He is recognized for designing, building and now supporting the Next-gen Analytics for Treatment and Efficiency (NATE) platform used daily by thousands of HCA Healthcare colleagues across the nation. Inspired by the needs of care teams during the pandemic, variations of NATE, such as one which provides a real-time analysis of medical documentation to better predict mortality, have become highly integrated in several service line workflows, driving efficiency and better patient outcomes.

“Innovation is an integral part of achieving our mission at HCA Healthcare,” said Bill Rutherford, executive vice president and chief financial officer of HCA Healthcare. “Nathan has shown tremendous ingenuity through the development of critical support tools that are now used to improve patient care across the enterprise.”

HCA Healthcare Excellence in Nursing Award Recipients

HCA Healthcare’s knowledgeable and compassionate nurses are on the front line of patient care, every day. The Excellence in Nursing Award was created in 2014 to recognize the intrinsic value of the nursing practice in accomplishing HCA Healthcare’s goal of providing the highest quality of care to the patients and communities we serve. With categories for professional mentoring and compassionate care, the Excellence in Nursing Award recipients each receive a $10,000 cash gift and a $10,000 donation to the charity of the recipient’s choice.

Recipients of this year’s Excellence in Nursing Award are: Sarah Nicole Romero, RN, BSN, CCRN, a professional support nurse at Medical City Plano in Plano, Texas; and Nadia Gueorguieva, RN, an orthopedic nurse at London Bridge Hospital in London, England, a part of HCA Healthcare UK.

“I am incredibly proud of the ways our nurses continually go above and beyond to care for their patients and for each other,” said Sammie Mosier, DHA, MA, BSN, NE-BC, senior vice president and chief nurse executive of HCA Healthcare. “The recipients of this year’s Excellence in Nursing award are remarkable individuals who have excelled in providing compassionate care and leadership in their hospitals.”

Sarah Nicole Romero, RN, BSN, CCRN, received the Excellence in Nursing Award in the Professional Mentoring category. During the height of the pandemic, Romero led a number of impactful initiatives to promote communication and connection among her nursing colleagues, including the Nurse Connections Platform and the Nurse Connection Mentor Program. Both initiatives proved to be key in retention of new hires and recent graduates. Since launching the mentorship program, Romero has accepted the role of professional development support nurse for Medical City Plano.

Nadia Gueorguieva, RN, received the Excellence in Nursing Award in the Compassionate Care category. With more than 25 years of experience, she serves as a mentor to the junior nursing teams, sharing her immense knowledge and experience in providing for the needs of her patients and their families while exhibiting a spirit of positivity and strength. In addition to receiving numerous DAISY Awards, Gueorguieva was invited as an honored guest to a special ceremony at Windsor Castle in recognition of her compassionate care.

About HCA Healthcare

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare is one of the nation’s leading providers of healthcare services comprising 182 hospitals and approximately 2,300 ambulatory sites of care, including surgery centers, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers, and physician clinics, in 20 states and the United Kingdom. With its founding in 1968, HCA Healthcare created a new model for hospital care in the United States, using combined resources to strengthen hospitals, deliver patient-focused care and improve the practice of medicine. HCA Healthcare has conducted a number of clinical studies, including one that demonstrated that full-term delivery is healthier than early elective delivery of babies and another that identified a clinical protocol that can reduce bloodstream infections in ICU patients by 44%. HCA Healthcare is a learning health system that uses its more than 35 million annual patient encounters to advance science, improve patient care and save lives. Please click here to connect with HCA Healthcare on social media.

All references to “Company,” “HCA” and “HCA Healthcare” as used throughout this document refer to HCA Healthcare, Inc. and its affiliates.

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