Among a crowd of 500 at Mr. Anthony's this evening, Kathy Cook, president of St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Mercy Health, was named the recipient of the 2016 Athena Award, presented by the Regional Chamber in co-sponsorship with The Vindicator/Vindy.com.
Among a crowd of 500 at Mr. Anthony's this evening, Kathy Cook, president of St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Mercy Health, was named the recipient of the 2016 Athena Award, presented by the Regional Chamber in co-sponsorship with The Vindicator/Vindy.com.
The Athena Award is given annually to recognize area business and professional women who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen career, provided leadership in the community and mentored or contributed to the growth of other professional women.
Cook’s accomplishments in the community are tremendous (see her background on page 2). After starting her career as a nurse at St. Elizabeth hospital in 1983, she worked her way up through the Mercy Health system in various roles until becoming president of St. Joseph Warren Hospital in 2013. Under her leadership, the 200-bed facility that employs 750 full-time positions and has an annual budget of more than $900 million has exceeded operating margins, improved patient safety scores to the 90th percentile, as well as employee engagement scores, and received national recognition.
Kathy is responsible for bringing Akron Children’s Hospital to Trumbull County to improve pediatric care and is also the executive leader for Oncology Services in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, increasing the number of patients served by 23 percent. She serves on the advisory board of Kent State Trumbull and is a member of the executive board of the Trumbull 100 and the board of Northeast Ohio Adoption Services. Kathy is board certified in nursing administration and became a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.
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Agnus Berenato, head women’s basketball coach at Kennesaw State University, was the evening’s keynote speaker. In addition, the ninth annual Athena Scholarship—a $1,500, one-time award created in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley—was presented to Austintown Fitch High School senior Kayla Fisher. Fisher, who will pursue electrical engineering at Youngstown State University, has a 3.9 GPA and, as the drum major with the marching band, became a natural mentor to younger students and impacted the entire band’s success on the football field.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield also presented for the fourth year two additional scholarships in the amount of $1,250 each to Boardman High School’s Elizabeth Hritz and Valley Christian School’s Yissel Martinez.
For more information on the 24th Annual ATHENA Award Dinner, call (330) 744-2131, ext. 35.
2016 Athena Award Recipient
Kathy Cook, President, St. Joseph Warren Hospital, Mercy Health
Kathy Cook began working for Mercy Health more than 30 years ago as a nurse and would work her way up through many positions of leadership—from assistant nurse manager to chief nursing officer— until becoming president of St. Joseph Warren Hospital in 2013.
She is responsible for the overall operations of the hospital that includes more than a dozen outpatient service lines in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and has an annual budget of more than $900 million.
In addition to bringing Akron Children’s Hospital to Trumbull County, she was also instrumental in St. Joseph’s maternity licensure advancing to level 2. Her work as executive leader for Oncology Services has garnered the program an award for outstanding achievement in 2015—an award given to less than 15% of all oncology programs across the nation. St. Joseph Cancer Care Center also received the Women’s Choice Award for America’s Best Hospitals for patient safety for 2016.
Prior to becoming president, Kathy had established the HM Home Therapies Infusion company, started HM Hospice and facilitated the merger of Hospice of the Valley with Mercy Health.
Her community involvement includes Kent state Trumbull, Trumbull 100, northeast Ohio Adoption Services and the Trumbull County Education, Enrichment and Cultural Grant board. She is also an advocate for Lifebanc.
The Niles resident received her Bachelor of Nursing degree from Youngstown State University and a Master’s in Nursing Administration from Gannon University. She was the first recipient of YSU’s Distinguished Nursing Alumni award in 2008.
Kathy and her husband Gary are the proud parents of Tatiana, Anna and Alex, siblings whom they adopted from Russia.