Teche Regional Medical Center names 2014 Mercy Award winner

Scott Williams, plant operations director, has won Teche Regional Medical Center’s 2014 Mercy Award, an annual award that recognizes one hospital employee who best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded.
The Mercy Award was established in 2002 to honor the life of Scott Mercy, founding chairman and CEO of LifePoint Hospitals Inc., Teche Regional Medical Center’s parent company.
The Mercy Award is the highest honor an employee can receive, a Teche Regional Medical Center news release stated.
“LifePoint Hospitals is committed to delivering the highest quality patient care possible. We are extremely proud to recognize Scott Williams for his efforts on behalf of our patients and our community,” said Butch Frazier, Teche Regional CEO.
“His exemplary work and compassion set a high standard for health care professionals,” Frazier said, “We are proud to have him as part of our team. Undoubtedly, our patients benefit from the kind of commitment to excellence and to humanitarian concerns he demonstrates each day.”
Williams has worked at Teche Regional Medical Center for 28 years in the Plant Operations Department. As the plant operations director, he is responsible for maintaining the entire hospital, medical office buildings, and its grounds.
Williams serves as the hospital’s safety officer and is instrumental in making sure the staff, as well as the facility is prepared for any possible disaster. Williams is the primary leader during every natural disaster, especially hurricanes. He always works during a storm making sure the patients, staff and building are safe. He stays in direct contact with local officials as to keep everyone at the hospital informed.
“Scott is always positive and supportive during stressful times,” Frazier said. “He takes charge of the disaster with such confidence that everyone involved feels safe and at ease that he is the one handling the situation.”
Williams is described as an honest, dependable and hardworking individual. Throughout the years he’s been employed, Williams has been a part of almost every hospital sponsored event within the community. He is the first to arrive and set up and the last to leave the event and pick up. Whether it is being on the Relay for Life team, barbecue cookoffs, health fairs, golf tournaments or community 5K runs for charity, he always goes the extra mile. He is active within the community. He has assisted his children’s school with raising money, buying and building wood furniture pieces to use as auction items and grilling hamburgers. He has also coached and refereed local sports, even before he had kids of his own and was a Boy Scout troop leader for local kids in the community.
“I have supervised Scott for the past seven years and appreciate his skill and performance as a director of his department,” said Don Kight, assistant administrator at Teche Regional. “He is well respected both inside the hospital and within LifePoint.”
Williams was recently recognized by Jerry Steel, LifePoint’s director of engineering services, as one of the top 10 best plant operations directors within Lifepoint. “He does not know the meaning of the words, ‘It’s not my job.’”
Whether he is at a family function, celebrating New Year’s Eve, at a conference or on vacation, he always answers the phone and is ready, willing and able to fix a problem that arises at the hospital,” Kight said.
The honor puts Williams in the running for LifePoint Hospitals’ 2014 company-wide Mercy Award.