Wythe County Community Hospital Names 2022 Mercy Award Winner

Wythe County Community Hospital recently announced that Lavonne Blessing, RN has been recognized as the facility’s 2022 Mercy Award winner. The Mercy Award recognizes one employee from each of LifePoint Health’s facilities who profoundly touches the lives of others and best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded.

The Mercy Award is an annual recognition program established in 2002 to honor the life and contributions of Scott Mercy, LifePoint’s founding chairman and chief executive officer. The award is considered the highest honor a LifePoint employee can receive.

“At Wythe County Community Hospital, we share LifePoint’s commitment to making communities healthier, and we recognize this is supported by the good work and service of our employees on and off the job,” said Vicki Parks, CEO of Wythe County Community Hospital.   “We are extremely proud to recognize Lavonne Blessing for her efforts on behalf of our patients and our community. She goes above and beyond each and every day to ensure that every person she encounters receives the highest level of care and compassion.”

As a pillar in the community, she serves as the VP for Ladies Night Out, a breast cancer awareness outreach group, she serves as the president for the local National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) chapter and uses this platform to diversify volunteer engagement through the inclusion of women, children, and people with disabilities. She is very involved with the Wheelin’ Sportsman’s Chapter which recognizes wounded veterans and disabled members of our community and offers them wheelchair accessible activities such as hunting, fishing, and shooting range activities. Lavonne purchases gifts for nursing home residents each Christmas, guaranteeing that every individual has a present to open on Christmas morning. Many other things could be said about Lavonne Blessing and the contributions she makes to her work life and her community. One would only need to be around her for a moment to experience the good she does each day.

Each LifePoint facility winner, including Lavonne Blessing, RN, will be considered for LifePoint’s 2022 companywide Mercy Award. The companywide winner will be announced this summer and honored during a ceremony in Nashville, Tenn., in August, to which Lavonne Blessing, RN and all facility winners are invited to attend.