WESTON, W.Va. — Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital announced Melissa Meluzio Edwards had been named the Annual ICARE Employee of the Year on Monday, May 11 at an award ceremony in the SJMH Boardroom.
Chief Administrative Officer, Avah Stalnaker, opened the event with a thank you to all ICARE Employee of the Month recipients for their excellent work and dedication to SJMH.
Stalnaker noted, “All SJMH employees were given the opportunity to vote for the Employee of the Year and it was a very difficult decision. This is a great group of employees who help our hospital to provide the best in patient care.”
Other ICARE Employees of the Month vying for the honor included Amanda Ball, Debbie Tomaro, Kendell Gruthrie, Tina Burnside, Amanda Landis, Susan Carpenter, Tara Arnold, Michael Bennett, Sarabeth Bunting, Debbie Strope and Kellie Tonkin.
Mon Health President and CEO, David Goldberg, was also present for the presentation.
Goldberg said, “I wanted to be here to congratulate all of you, as well as the ICARE Employee of the Year, for your consistency in providing the best in patient experience.”
Edwards began employment in 2016 as a medical lab technician at SJMH. She currently serves as the department lead in the Hematology, Coagulation and Urinalysis Division. Edwards received her degree from Pierpont Technical College in Medical Laboratory Technology. Currently she is studying for her Medical Laboratory Sciences degree from the University of Arkansas.
Angela Cedeno, Laboratory Director wrote, “Melissa is a clear representative of our core values at SJMH. She is committed to staying over to cover shifts and insists that when people call off that she be called before letting anyone work short staffed. One weekend, she tackled multiple traumas that required high stress blood bank situations. She was racing blood to the operating room and scrubbing up while patients were in surgery to provide the best care to our patients. While she was attending to traumas in the ER, she was also helping strip and make beds while she waited on the nurse to get the blood from the IV. She stepped up as our lead hematology tech with only three years of experience and has run the department professionally. Everything she does she gives 100 percent.”
She and her husband Drew live in Fairmont, along with her two cats Nala and Anubis and two chinchillas Lucy and Ebony. Her parents are Joe and Lois Meluzio of Fairmont.