Fruth honors employees with 26th annual awards

POINT PLEASANT, W.V. — Fruth Pharmacy recently honored its employees with its Annual Service Awards, marking the 26th year the company has celebrated its employees’ accomplishments and years of service. Awards were given out for Manager of the Year, Pharmacist of the Year, Pharmacy Technician of the Year and Associate of the Year. The company also honored employees for years of service in five-year increments.

 

Nominees are submitted to Fruth Pharmacy by the employee’s superiors, co-workers, customers and community members, and customers and community members can vote online. This year saw the creation of the Red Vest Award, which recognizes employees that go above and beyond to help save a Fruth patient’s life. This year, three employees were honored with the awards for life-saving acts. The Red Vest winners were presented with a red vest and a lapel pin, as well as a certificate, and their photo will be displayed at Fruth headquarters.

 

Fruth employees who won the Red Vest award were Rebecca Church, of the Fruth Pharmacy in Athens, Ohio, who called the ambulance for a patient having a massive stroke; and Kathy Searls and Debra Shelton of the Pomeroy, Ohio location. Searls notified Shelton when a regular customer didn’t come to the door for her prescription delivery, and Shelton contacted someone who knew the patient’s landlord, who found the patient in the bathtub, where she had been for three days. That patient was the award luncheon to thank Shelton and Searls. 

 

“We are starting out this year’s awards with a very special tribute to people that define the word hero,” Fruth Pharmacy president Lynne Fruth said at the Oct. 27 awards luncheon. “A hero isn’t someone who does what is easy.  A hero isn’t someone who does what is best.  A hero is someone who steps up, recognizes a challenge or a circumstance, and without thinking of self courageously acts for the benefits of others.  We have 3 ladies in our midst who did just that this past year.”

 

Besides the Red Vest Award, Fruth named Julye Knox of Spencer, W.V., Manager of the Year; Peggy Knight of Point Pleasant Pharmacist of the Year; Kim Phelps of Hurricane, W.V. Pharmacy Technician of the Year; and Jordan Rife of Gallipolis, Ohio, Associate of the Year.