Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center recently presented the 2010 Joseph A. Pacera Award Community Benefit Award to individuals whose volunteer efforts have made a difference in Camden City and whose actions best exemplify the spirit and meaning of community health improvement. Pictured back row, from left are Alexander J. Hatala, Lourdes president and CEO; Joseph Howe, MD; Margaret T. O’Donnell; Robert DiMaio, MD; Rocky Wilson; Margaret Fernandes, MD; and Sister Helen Owens, OSF. Front row, from right: Janet Parker, NP; Sister Rosemarie Kolmer, OSF; Russell Harris, MD; Peter Burgos; Tondra Lawson; Eugene Gatti, MD. Not pictured: Joseph Stegmuller, MD.
CAMDEN — Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center recently presented the 2010 Joseph A. Pacera Award Community Benefit Award to 10 Lourdes Health System associates as well as a Camden City resident.
The award recognizes individuals whose volunteer efforts have made a difference in Camden City and whose actions best exemplify the spirit and meaning of community health improvement.
“The Pacera Awards honor our ‘unsung heroes’ for volunteering their hands and lending their hearts to deserving and important Camden City programs,” said Alexander J. Hatala, president and CEO of Lourdes Health System. “Through these awards, we show how much we at Lourdes value those who volunteer in community health improvement.”
The 2010 Joseph A. Pacera Community Benefit Awards were given to recipients in the following categories: Lifetime Achievement, Volunteer Program, Medical Professional, and Our Lady of Lourdes Associate. Honors also were given to a Camden City resident and volunteers who staff a free clinic at St. Anthony of Padua Church.
The winners include:
— Margaret Fernandes, MD, Lourdes chief of Neonatology, Lifetime Achievement
— Peter Burgos, Lourdes volunteer, Volunteer Program (The Bridge)
— Russell Harris, MD, Lourdes Emergency Department, Medical Professional
— Tondra Lawson, Lourdes Cardiac Cath Lab, Our Lady of Lourdes Associate
— Rocky Wilson, Camden City Resident
— Robert DiMaio, MD, St. Anthony Clinic
— Eugene Gatti, MD, St. Anthony Clinic
— Joseph Howe, MD, St. Anthony Clinic
— Margaret O’Donnell, St. Anthony Clinic
— Joseph Stegmuller, MD, St. Anthony Clinic
— Janet Parker, NP, St. Anthony Clinic
The Joseph A. Pacera Community Benefit Awards were created in memory of Joseph A. Pacera, senior vice president of Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center from 1976 to 1993, and an esteemed community advocate and health care leader. Pacera’s vision was for hospitals and other organizations to partner with neighbors to develop programs and services that address the issues of poverty, disease, crime, housing, employment and drugs.
The Pacera awards ceremony was combined with the annual ceremony of commissioning and blessing for all those who volunteer in Camden City programs supported by Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center.
Lourdes Health System officials also honored the contributions of its global outreach envoys. The Global Outreach Envoys each committed to or have already devoted two weeks to rebuilding communities and providing services to the poor in Atlanta, and as far away as Haiti, Peru, Guatemala and Brazil.
“The Franciscan Mission of Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center touched Joe Pacera and continues to be the driving force behind Lourdes’ focus on community-centered programs, especially in the City of Camden,” said Hatala. “The medical center vision was realized when Lourdes was selected by the American Hospital Association and the Baxter Foundation as the winner of the 1995 Foster G. McGaw Prize, recognizing excellence in hospital community service.”
Added Hatala, “The awards receipts were nominated by their peers for their selflessness, dedication, and vision for the Camden community. These attributes uphold the vision of Dr. Joseph A. Pacera, and for that we honor them.”
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