Jackson Purchase Medical Center Names 2023 Mercy Award Winner
June 12, 2023
Jackson Purchase Medical Center (JPMC) today announced that Heather Dublin, speech pathologist, has been recognized as the hospital’s 2023 Mercy Award winner. The Mercy Award recognizes one employee from each of Lifepoint Health’s hospitals who profoundly touches the lives of others and best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded.
The Mercy Award is an annual recognition program established in 2002 to honor the life and contributions of Scott Mercy, Lifepoint’s founding chairman and chief executive officer. The award is considered the highest honor a Lifepoint employee can receive.
“At Jackson Purchase Medical Center, we share Lifepoint’s commitment to making communities healthier, and we recognize this is supported by the good work and service of our employees on and off the job,” said Dave Anderson, JPMC CEO. “We are extremely proud to recognize Heather for her efforts on behalf of our patients and our community. Heather is an outstanding speech-language pathologist who embodies our hospital’s core values. She is a fierce patient advocate who shows her passion for providing superior care to all her patients and will stop at nothing to assist those she cares for.”
Heather, who has worked at JPMC since 2017, spends countless hours contacting other healthcare professionals including physicians, dietitians, support groups and fellow clinicians to ensure that her patients have every opportunity at the best possible quality of life. Heather’s commitment to providing superior patient care is also evidenced in the inpatient setting. She strives to bridge the communication gap between patients and healthcare professionals to ensure that they receive the best possible care and can communicate their needs, including through her implementation of “communication boxes” containing writing tablets, communication boards, auditory trainers and more.
Heather’s compassion to make a difference is not only felt by her patients and coworkers but also in the community. After the tornado that devastated Mayfield in December 2021, Heather was very active volunteering with a need-line for the community, often delivering crucial items to those in need. There are countless contributions that Heather has made to her community, while changing so many of her patients’ lives for the better. Many of these go unnoticed because she is not driven by recognition but by her desire to make a difference. She is an inspiration and a deserving nominee for this year’s Mercy Award.
Each hospital winner, including Heather, will be considered for Lifepoint’s 2023 companywide Mercy Award, which will be announced later this summer and honored during a ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, in August.