Veteran-filled Phoebe Health System celebrates Veterans Day
Staff Photo: Carlton Fletcher
By Carlton Fletcher
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ALBANY — The Albany-based Phoebe Putney Health System had more reasons — 140 of them to be exact — than even the rest of a grateful nation to be thankful for veterans Thursday as the hospital system held a Veterans Day ceremony in its courtyard.
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital CEO Joe Austin noted in remarks during the ceremony that the hospital system employs 140 military veterans.
“A lot of who we are and what we’ve overcome as a community, we celebrate today,” Austin said. “And we celebrate our veterans who have such a huge impact here at Phoebe in all kinds of roles.
“We shot a video in the hospital this week in which we talked to some of our veterans about the things they brought to Phoebe from their military service. I was very glad to hear one say, ‘If you’re not 10 minutes early for a meeting, you’re late.’ Another said he brought the concepts of teamwork, dedication and commitment with him. Those are among the reasons we recognized these men and women who’ve served so nobly. Our country would not be what it is today without our veterans.”
Patricia Thornton, an Air Force veteran who now serves as a reimbursement analyst for the health system, said she too thinks about the elements she took from her military service that “helped me grow as a person.”
Among them, she said, are accountability, integrity, commitment, loyalty, service and service to others.
Lt. Cols. Don Gray and Dan Gillan, who co-chair the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Committee, brought a lapel pin to the program and asked all veterans to come by and accept one from the chamber at the end of the program.
“One team, one fight,” Gray said.
Bruce Mattos, Phoebe Health System’s corporate director of talent acquisition, served as emcee for the program; the Westover High School Color Guard presented colors at the start of the program, and the Deerfield-Windsor School Lower Campus Choir sang the National Anthem and an armed forces medley.
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