Jones-Ritzler named Georgetown Hospital’s Mercy Award winner

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (WTVQ/Press Release) – Georgetown Community Hospital recently named Jeff Jones-Ritzler the hospital’s 2020 Mercy Award winner, which recognizes one employee from each of LifePoint Health’s hospitals who profoundly touches the lives of others.

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 Georgetown 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 William Haugh, CEO of Georgetown Community Hospital. “We are extremely proud to recognize Jeff Jones-Ritzler for his efforts on behalf of our patients and our community. He goes above and beyond each and every day to ensure that every person he encounters receives the highest level of care and compassion.”

Jones-Ritzler is the emergency department director for Georgetown Community Hospital and Bluegrass Community Hospital (BGCH).

He started his nursing career 23 years ago as the charge nurse on a medical/surgical and pediatric unit. He has spent the last 22 years within the field of emergency nursing with 17 years at UK HealthCare and three years with GCH and BGCH.

He is a member of several professional healthcare organizations including the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) National Emergency Management and Planning Committee, ENA Past President of the Bluegrass Chapter and the American Organization of Nurse Executives.

He participated in the development of the ENA Disaster Emergency Essentials Toolkit.

Jones-Ritzler is always lending a helping hand to his fellow co-workers, patients and community partners.

He is involved with the multi-disciplinary task force in Scott County developing the county opioid response plan and works closely with local EMS. As safety officer, Jeff continues to work tirelessly to ensure and prepare the hospital throughout the unprecedented times of COVID-19.

His respect, kindness, steadfast leadership and passion for taking care of others makes a difference in many lives.

Each hospital winner, including Jeff Jones-Ritzler, will be considered for LifePoint’s 2020 company-wide Mercy Award. The company-wide winner will be announced this fall and honored during a virtual ceremony, to which Jeff Jones-Ritzler and all hospital winners are invited to attend.

A 75-bed, acute care facility, Georgetown Community Hospital offers a wide range of both inpatient and outpatient services, including emergency medicine, general/robotic surgery, oncology/hematology, orthopedics, radiology, bariatrics, rehabilitation services, women’s services and women’s imaging (including 3D mammography).