Over 200 healthcare professionals from the Fayetteville MSA  gathered together at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden on Thursday, Nov. 7 to celebrate and honor the medical professionals that keep their communities happy and healthy.

This is the event's second year honoring the community, with winners recognized for their hard work across nine categories and the ever esteemed Lifetime Achievement Award being presented to Dr. Franklin Clark III. 

Fellow award recipients were as follows: 

COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENT

Honors an individual or team who successfully implemented a program addressing a problem in healthcare administration, delivery or community outreach.

Winner: Sharon Gallagher, DNP, MSN, RN & Murtis Worth, PhD, RN for their work with the FTCC Nursing Program. 

INNOVATION

Honors an individual or team behind a new scientific discovery, procedure, treatment or device that can save lives or improve the quality of life for a large number of people.

Winner: Jennifer Green, PhD, MPH,  Health Director,  Cumberland County Department of Public Health

HEALTHCARE EXECUTIVE

Honors an individual whose job performance is considered exemplary by people within their organizations, peers and community members.

Winner: Susan Beaty, MSN, R.N. President, Eastern Region, Administrator of MRH-Hoke

NURSE

Honors a nurse whose performance is considered exemplary by patients, peers and other healthcare providers.

Winner: Anastasia Jennings (AJ) MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, TCRN, Nurse Executive - FirstHealth Moore Regional - Hoke Campus

NURSE PRACTITIONER/PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Honors a nurse practitioner or physician assistant whose performance is considered exemplary by patients, peers and other healthcare providers.

Winner: MyTrang Dang- MHS, PA-C, KidzCare Pediatrics

PHYSICIAN

Honors a physician whose performance is considered exemplary by patients, peers and other healthcare providers.

Winner: W. Dickson Schaefer, Orthopedic Surgeon, President, Fayetteville Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine of Cape Fear Valley Health

UNSUNG HERO

Honors anyone working in healthcare who may not fit into the other categories highlighted in HealthCare Heroes and includes anyone in the field whose performance is considered exemplary by patients, colleagues and other healthcare providers.

Winner: La'Toshia Bagley, Regional Manager KidzCare Pediatrics PC. 

VOLUNTEER

Honors a volunteer at a health care provider or other health-related organization who is  considered exemplary by people within those organizations. 

Winner: Dr. J. Wesley Jones, Retired Private Practitioner, Community Volunteer

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Honors an individual for achievements throughout his or her career. Judges considered the individual's professional accomplishments, impact on the community and assistance they gave to others.

Winner: Dr. Franklin S. Clark, III

“It was a pleasure being able to bring this event back to the health care community to allow their coworkers, bosses and the rest of the area to show their appreciation for these spectacular heroes. Everyone in the room deserved to walk away with an award, and our judging panel was given the impossible task to narrow the list of finalists down to nine winners,” said GFBJ Editor Faith Hatton. “This year we improved the awards and the ceremony had a new home at CFBG who were fabulous hosts. It was also a pleasure to MC again. We would like to thank our presenting sponsors Cape Fear Valley Health and Methodist University along with our other dedicated sponsors for making this event possible. We look forward to continuing to improve the awards next year and we’ll see you all in 2025!” 

Keep an eye on the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal’s social media pages to hear words from the winners.