First Posted: 6/24/2014
On June 20, Southeastern Health honored its 19 longest-serving employees with a personal copy of a photography book they were featured in to highlight the history of longevity in the organization. The employees contributed a combined 771 years of service to the organization, with tenure ranging from 39 to 46 years.
“Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough,” Joann Anderson, Southeastern Health’s president and CEO, said at the breakfast presentation. “Think about the many lives that each of you have touched and the impact you have had on this organization throughout your career.”
Following the book presentation, honorees took time to look at the book, entitled “Southeastern Health: Serving Through the Years,” for the first time and to sign each other’s books as they would a yearbook in high school.
“This really is like a reunion for you all to reconnect and reflect back on your first days on the job,” Anderson said.
The project included documentary photography by Lisa Marie Albert of each employee in their natural work environment. The untouched photos were compiled into a hardback book. A digital version of the project will be shown at bi-weekly orientation for new employees as an example of the many employees who have dedicated their lives and their careers to the organization.
“We really are grateful,” said Cynthia George, a clinical care director who was featured in the book and has worked for Southeastern Health for 39 years. “We are grateful for our jobs and for the opportunity to work for such a wonderful organization.”
The following message is featured in the forward, “In the field of health care, nothing stays the same for very long. Hospital snapshots taken just a generation ago might be almost unrecognizable to today’s patients. At Southeastern Health, however, one thing has remained remarkably constant: Thanks to an extraordinary level of loyalty and commitment among our employees, the nurse or housekeeper or technician who looked after you grandmother in the 1970s might still be here today, looking after the needs of you and your children. In the following pages, we honor the longest-serving members of our team. With 771 years of combined service, these are the people who make Southeastern such an integral and valuable part of the community. To each and every one of them, we offer our sincere gratitude.”
A copy of the book can be viewed at Southeastern Health’s Community Health Education Center near Belk in Biggs Park Mall in Lumberton. The center is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
