GREENFIELD — The Hancock Regional Hospital Foundation recently awarded two community leaders and a youth outreach organization during its annual Healthy Community Awards ceremony.
Bob Wortman and Linda Hart were named co-recipients of the 2017 Bert Curry Healthy Community Award, and the recipient of the 2017 Bobby Keen Healthy Community Award is The Landing Place, foundation leaders recently announced.
Each award recipient received $1,000 along with their award. Hart gave her money to senior services, and Wortman plans to split his to give $500 each to the Hancock County Community Foundation’s Imagination Library Fund and Hancock County Shrine Club’s scholarship program.
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The Bert Curry award is named in honor of the foundation’s first executive director, and the award is given each year to an individual for exemplary and innovative efforts to create positive change in the health and well-being of the community, according to a news release.
Earlier this year, Hart retired as executive director of Hancock County Senior Services after 25 years of working for the organization.
Under Hart’s leadership, Hancock County Senior Services grew in size and scope through programs that include homemaker and handyman services, transportation, respite care and the involvement of hundreds of volunteers.
A standout accomplishment was the expansion of the transportation program, officials said: what started as one vehicle and one part-time driver has now grown to include 12 vehicles and 17 drivers, and remains the only public transportation in Hancock County.
Kit Paternoster, senior services volunteer coordinator, nominated Hart for the honor.
Wortman, too, has dedicated his life to serving his community, foundation leaders said in a news release. He volunteers with and donates to many area organizations, including Love in the Name of Christ of Greater Hancock County, Hancock Health Foundation and the Blue River Community Foundation, officials said.
In 2015, Wortman made a gift to the Hancock Regional Hospital Foundation that earned him the opportunity to name the building the Sue Ann Wortman Cancer Center after his late wife.
“He is the epitome of quiet, steady, generous leadership and stewardship that the Bert Curry award represents,” Becky Riley of Greenfield, one of the individuals who nominated Wortman, said of the man in a news release.
The hospital foundation in 2014 established the Bobby Keen Healthy Community Award, named in honor of the former president & CEO of Hancock Regional Hospital, to recognizes a hospital program or local organization whose efforts are creating positive change in the health of local communities.
The Landing Place was founded in 2013 as a safe place for teens to seek help in overcoming various struggles. Leaders of The Landing work to break the cycle of dysfunction and destructive behaviors by giving young people the tools they need to face life’s hurts, habits and hang-ups in a new, healthy and effective way.
The organization has recently seen growth and now serves between 60 and 75 teens each week.
Dr. John Hunt of Greenfield was one of four individuals who nominated The Landing for this award.
“The Landing Place is making a significant impact on a segment of the Hancock County community that no other organization is addressing as aggressively or effectively — youth who are struggling to attain wellness and wholeness,” Hunt said in a news release.
