Commonwealth Health Hospitals Name Top Employees of 2017

1/4/2018

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (Jan. 4, 2018) – Commonwealth Health has announced its 2017 Employee of the Year award winners.

Each hospital names an Employee of the Year, Clinical Manager of the Year and Manager of the Year. The Employee of the Year and a guest are honored at an awards celebration hosted by Community Health Systems in Franklin, Tenn. The trip includes a stay in Nashville and tours of that city’s sights.

Employees of the Year are Jacqueline Turner, Berwick Hospital Center; Trish Redman, Moses Taylor Hospital; Thomas Sochovka, Regional Hospital of Scranton; Michael Koptcho, Tyler Memorial Hospital, and Debbie Rowles, Wilkes-Barre General/First Hospital. Clinical Managers of the Year are Craig Hiott, Berwick; Beverly Phillips, Moses Taylor; John Veneski, Regional; Kristin Montauredes, Tyler, and Mark Lokuta, General/First Hospital.

Non-Clinical Managers of the Year are Joanne Dietz, Berwick; Brian McAlarney, Moses Taylor; Matthew Kalinchok, Regional; Ronald Coolbaugh, Tyler, and Carrie Raymond, General/First Hospital.

Turner, of Weatherly, is a respiratory therapist lead who has been with Berwick Hospital 2000. She oversees all operational responsibilities of the respiratory department including the oversight of daily activities and financial accounting. She has worked in the field of respiratory therapy since 1980. She and her husband, Mark, have three sons and six grandchildren.

Redman, critical care nurse educator at Moses Taylor, began working at the hospital in 1989 as a nursing assistant. A registered nurse, she has worked in several capacities at Moses Taylor and at Allied Services Home Health and Rehabilitation Hospital. She lives in Peckville with her husband, John. They have three children.

Sochovka, a registered nurse in the Regional Hospital cardiac cath lab, began his career at the hospital in 1982. He earned an associate’s degree from Penn State University and graduated from the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing. He previously worked in telemetry, the emergency department and intensive care unit. He and his wife, Mary, live in Moosic. They have two children, Kevin, of Boston, and Lisa, Philadelphia.

Koptcho, of Swoyersville, has been a staff pharmacist at Tyler for five years. He is a graduate of Wyoming Valley West High School and the Temple University School of Pharmacy and previously worked as a staff pharmacist at Frankford Hospital, Philadelphia.

Rowles is a licensed practical nurse in the clinic office at Academic Medicine, Kingston, a part of Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. She has been with the health care system since 2000.

 

Hiott is director of surgical services at Berwick Hospital where he has worked since 2010. He began his career as a surgical tech in the U.S. Navy, then attended nursing school at Florida Community College, Jacksonville, earning a bachelor’s degree from South University in Savannah, Ga. While working at the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, he specialized in orthopedic nursing before moving to the transplant team. He and his wife, Angie, live in Mountain Top with their children, Alex and Emily.

Phillips, of Waverly, is nurse manager of the Moses Taylor emergency department. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from American University before obtaining a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Scranton in 1994. She has worked at Moses Taylor since 1998 and has been managing the emergency department since October 2016. She and her husband, David, have three daughters, Martha, Margrette and Clara.

Veneski has been director of the pharmacy at Regional Hospital since October 2016, having started at Moses Taylor in 1987. A resident of Scranton, Veneski is married to Shelley Rosenberg. They have two children -- Sarah Veneski, of San Francisco, and Daniel Veneski, Scranton – and a granddaughter, Lennon Rose.

Montauredes, laboratory manager at Tyler, has been with the hospital since July 2016. She resides in Forest City.

As manager of respiratory services at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Lokuta oversees respiratory therapy, neurophysiology and the sleep lab. He joined the staff in April 2016 and previously served as manager of respiratory therapy at Regional Hospital of Scranton, pulmonary manager at Select Hospital, Danville, and clinical respiratory care instructor at Luzerne County Community College. He is a registered respiratory therapist with certification in health care administration and holds an associate’s degree in respiratory therapy. He is a member of the National Board for Respiratory Care and the American Association for Respiratory Care. He lives in Mountain Top with his wife, Michelle, and daughter, Lauren.

Dietz, controller at Berwick Hospital, joined the staff four years ago and previously worked at Moses Taylor Hospital. She graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor of science degree in management information systems and earned a diploma in accounting from Elizabethtown College. She has worked in health care finance for 25 years. She and her husband, Walt, and their children, Derek and Trevor, reside in Fairmount Township.

McAlarney, a resident of Throop, has been director of facilities at Moses Taylor Hospital since 2015, having begun his career at the hospital in 2008.

Kalinchok serves as controller at Regional Hospital, Moses Taylor Hospital, Tyler Memorial Hospital and Commonwealth Health Emergency Medical Services. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He previously was employed as a staff accountant by ParenteBeard, a senior accountant by Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and as controller of Berwick Hospital. He and his wife, Melissa, and their daughter, Laini Grace, live in Conyngham.

Coolbaugh, who serves as plant engineering manager at Tyler, joined the hospital staff in 2002. He is active in the community as a volunteer with the local fire department and as a member of the local Emergency Planning Commission. A graduate of Lake-Lehman High School, Coolbaugh earned an associate’s degree from Williamsport Area Community College (now Penn College). He is a Certified Healthcare Safety Professional and previously served as maintenance supervisor at Letica Corp. He lives in Tunkhannock with his wife, Brenna, and stepchildren, Riley and Maddie.

Raymond, of Dallas, is the customer service supervisor in the laboratory at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. A graduate of Dallas High School, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from College Misericordia and is registered in medical technology. She worked at the General Hospital lab for 30 years, serving in customer service for the last 20 years.

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