AMSTERDAM - The Foundation of St. Mary's Healthcare will honor community members and a company dedicated to supporting local health care, Monday during its 16th annual Celebration of Healthcare Excellence.
Honorees include Judith-Ann Phetteplace, founder of Judith-Ann Realty in Tribes Hill; longtime St. Mary's Healthcare Board of Trustees member Sister Lauren Vandermark, C.S.J.; and the Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation.
Phetteplace will receive the Healthcare Leader Award. According to a news release, she served three terms as a foundation board member from 2000-08, and was board president from 2005-07. She returned to the board in 2010. She has been principal broker at Judith-Ann Realty since she established the company in 1977 at her home.
Vandermark will receive The Sister Catharine Bernard Cox Award for Lifetime Service. According to the release, Vandermark has been a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet for nearly 50 years. She holds a bachelor's degree from the College of St. Rose, and master's degrees in history and social work from the University at Albany. She served the Albany and Syracuse diocese as a secondary social studies teacher, and spent several years as director of Senior Services at Catholic Charities of Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties.
From 1994 to 2004, Vandermark served on her province leadership team, and then became the master-plan coordinator for the Sisters of St. Joseph, overseeing the creation of the Carondelet Hospitality Center, and the development of resources for the Albany province. She is a member of the executive team that is developing Shaker Pointe at Carondelet, Inc., a senior living community. She has served for many years as a trustee for St. Mary's Healthcare and serves on the executive, audit and governance committees.
Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation will be honored with the event's award for corporations. As a benefactor of the Birthplace at St. Mary's Hospital, Beech-Nut has played a large role in the renovation of the maternity department on the Guy Park Avenue campus, the release said. New additions in the department include furnishings, window treatments, flooring, and a new "Beech-Nut Cafe," designed for new dads awaiting the birth of their children.
Additional awards will be presented to St. Mary's associates Victoria Catucci from the laboratory department, and Ben Mars from the maintenance department. They are honored as "VIPs" for their dedication to St. Mary's "values in practice." Catucci and Mars were nominated by their peers and chosen for the awards from a pool of St. Mary's 2011 monthly "VIP" award winners, the release said.
The event is sponsored by NBT Bank, and will be held at the Holiday Inn, 308 N. Comrie Avenue, Johnstown, starting at 6 p.m. Tickets will cost $50 per person.
For more information or to RSVP, call 841-7478.