DELAND, FLORIDA, June 8, 2007 –Florida Hospital DeLand celebrated its employees in May at the hospital’s Annual Service Awards dinner held during National Hospital Week. One hundred and ten employees who celebrated a 5-year incremental anniversary this year were recognized. Two of the employees, Linda Penney and Kathleen Barnard celebrated 35 years of service while another, Loraine (Lorrie) Adams, celebrated 40 years of service.

Sadly, Lorrie Adams could not attend the Service Awards dinner this year as she was fighting for her life in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. Later that same week, Lorrie died. During her 40 years of service, she held many roles and most recently worked as the Employee Health Manager.

Florida Hospital DeLand President and CEO Daryl Tol said, “Lorrie always carried with her a smiling face that could lift anyone’s mood. She brought strength, integrity and compassion to her work and knew how to make each new employee feel right at home.”

Kathleen Barnard has seen many new faces come and go at Florida Hospital DeLand in the BirthCare Center.  As a Registered Nurse, she has been involved in the delivery of over 30,000 babies during her career and has seen a grand total of 300,000 fingers and 300,000 toes.

“I have assisted with the delivery of babies who are now adults and delivering babies of their own. Pretty soon the third generation will catch up to me,” said Barnard.

Linda Penney began working as a Histotechnologist at the hospital in August of 1971 after passing the proficiency examinations from the Department of Health Education and Welfare.  She later received her Florida State license in Histology, the study of tissue and throughout her career at Florida Hospital DeLand, has processed more than 196,000 patient tissue specimens.

“If you have had lab work or tissue samples taken here at Florida Hospital DeLand there is a good chance that I have touched it somewhere during its process,” said Penney.

“Through the years, many things have changed, but our pathology services have remained strong and dependable, thanks in part to employees like Linda Penney,” said Florida Hospital DeLand Laboratory Director Ileana Rodriguez.

In addition to Kathleen, Linda and Lorrie, five employees celebrated their 30-year anniversaries, eight celebrated 20-year anniversaries, ten celebrated their 15-year anniversaries, nine celebrated 10-year anniversaries and 60 employees were recognized for 5 years of service with the organization. 

“We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful group of employees at Florida Hospital DeLand who have been with us for many years and who help us provide high-quality healthcare to the residents of our community,” said Florida Hospital DeLand Human Resources Director Sharon Campbell. 

Florida Hospital DeLand, located at 701 West Plymouth Avenue in DeLand, was established in 1962 and is a 156-bed acute-care hospital. The not-for-profit hospital is guided by the motto, “Skill to Heal. Spirit to Care.”  Florida Hospital DeLand has been named a 2006 recipient of the “Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders” award, for a second consecutive year, based on a study issued by Solucient, the market leader in measuring hospital performance. Florida Hospital DeLand is a part of the Adventist Health System; the largest Protestant not-for-profit  hospital system in the nation. For more information about Florida Hospital DeLand visit www.fhdeland.org.

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