This year’s event will also honor those employees who are receiving CoxHealth's Prestigious Partners award for outstanding service. Below are two profiles of employees who'll be honored on Thursday night - watch for two more profiles tomorrow:
Stacie Mountain, Pre-Hospital
Stacie Mountain’s name might imply an imposing figure, but the Cox EMT is actually a petite 5-foot-3-inches tall.
Despite her size, Mountain’s partner, paramedic Jason Blum, says she never backs down on the job, even when dealing with an aggressive patient.
“She has a very pleasant, calm demeanor that sometimes helps to calm down patients who become threatening,” says Blum. “But Stacie can also be tough when she needs to be.”
That toughness may have helped during a tense situation one night last year while Blum and Mountain were on duty in north Springfield. The team was preparing to leave the scene of an earlier call.
“I walked out to the ambulance and heard a woman screaming, ‘Help me, help me,’ over and over,” says Mountain. “A fireman and I walked toward the noise to find out what was going on.”
The screaming was coming from two houses away. As they got closer, they saw a man and a woman struggling.
“He was pulling her by the hair toward a car,” remembers Mountain. “The driver’s side door was open and he was apparently trying to drag her to the car.”
Mountain and the fireman approached the two, startling the man, who let go of the woman and came toward them.
“From what I understand from witnesses, he apparently puffed up his chest and got in their faces like he wanted to fight,” says Blum.
“I don’t think he realized who we were at first, but after he saw our uniforms, he took off running,” says Mountain. “The police apparently caught him a week later.”
After the suspect ran away, the woman ran toward the ambulance and collapsed on the ground.
“I ran over to her to make sure she was okay,” says Mountain. “She told me the man was trying to stab her. She apparently jumped out of the car when she saw the ambulance and fire truck and tried to run for safety. Her quick thinking saved her.”
Mountain’s actions earned her a Prestigious Partners award.
“We’re taught to be aware of your surroundings and to be prepared for something that may escalate, because you just never know,” says Mountain. “I’m glad that we happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
Peggy Cave, Food and Nutrition ServicesPeggy Cave always has her yearly mammogram. Loritha Crews, Peggy’s friend and co-worker in Food Services for the past 27 years, had never had one.
“Every year Peggy would talk to me about getting a mammogram. Actually, she really hounded me,” Crews says with a laugh. “I didn’t think I needed one because I don’t have a family history of breast cancer.”
Last year, Loritha’s primary care doctor advised her that she was past the age of beginning yearly mammograms. Loritha told Peggy about her doctor’s recommendation and says Peggy started on her mammogram pitch again.
“Women have to have their mammograms because you just never know,” says Cave, explaining her persistence.
But this year, Peggy changed her tactics.
“We were coming off the elevator on the third floor of Hulston after working up in the board room for a lunch,” remembers Cave. “The elevator opens right outside of the doors to the Breast Care Clinic. I told Loritha I was going to make my appointment for my mammogram and that she was coming with me. So I dragged her in there!”
Peggy made her appointment 15 minutes after Loritha’s so she could be there to support her friend.
“It was my very first mammogram,” says Crews. “I was really apprehensive. I was scared. But Peggy was there for me.”
And Peggy was there for her friend after the mammogram and subsequent screening found a small lump in Loritha’s left breast.
“It really wasn’t large enough for me to feel on my own, so the mammogram was the only way they would have caught it,” says Crews.
Crews says her surgeon told Peggy her persistence saved Loritha’s life.
“If it weren’t for Peggy’s encouragement, I would not have gotten the mammogram,” says Crews. “I probably still wouldn’t have gotten one to this day. I never would have thought having one simple little test could actually save my life.”
Cave’s support for her fellow co-worker earned her a Prestigious Partners award. Cave says she is honored for the recognition but is especially grateful that Loritha is cancer free.
“I just thank the Lord for that,” says Cave. “I just wanted to be there for her because she’s my friend, you know? You do what you can for your friends.”
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