Matt Contarino of Alton is very happy with the support he has received from the Alton Memorial Hospital Diabetes Management Center since he was diagnosed in 2020.

Cathy Wagner, manager of Surgical Services and the Cardiac Cath Lab at Alton Memorial, won the 2021 AMH Leadership Award, as voted on by senior leaders recently and announced May 12 during Health Care Week.

Greg Lorsbach, a physical therapist with the AMH Human Motion Institute, has won the hospital's 2021 Employee of the Year in a selection by hospital leadership from among the 12 Employees of the Month.

Among the awards handed out during Health Care Week recently was the Virginia Ilch Team Quality Award. The ”Promoting Vaginal Births” team was the winner for its part in a 2021 quality initiative as a part of the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative. Their 2021 cesarean section rate dropped to 18.5 percent --well below the target rate.

The two winners of Alton Memorial Hospital’s first two Health Equity Scholarships had to consider those honors a very special Mother’s Day gift this year. Taryn Wallace, a senior at Alton High School, and Samara Helton, a senior at Edwardsville High School, were both raised by single mothers who have been steady influences in their lives -- and they were awarded the scholarships four days before Mother’s Day.

Three Alton Memorial Hospital departments were recognized recently with top awards from national health care research leader Professional Research Consultants Inc. (PRC). The Digestive Health Center earned a Top Performer award for the third consecutive year. The AMH Human Motion Institute and Cardiac Cath received 5-Star Awards.

Alton Memorial Hospital has donated one of its out-of-service ambulances to The Salvation Army's Alton Corps for use as a mobile case management unit, an important need since The Salvation Army has transitioned to a 'scattered site housing model' in the community.

The Mobile Integrated Health Care (MIH) program started earlier this year by the Alton Memorial Hospital EMS team is already paying dividends, according to David and Mary Gammaitoni of Godfrey.

Billy Welch almost came full circle recently during a short-term stay at Alton Memorial Rehabilitation & Therapy. The former Eunice Smith Home is less than a mile from Alton Memorial Hospital, where on Nov. 15, 1937, Billy was the very first baby born at the hospital, delivered by Dr. D.M. Roberts and weighing in at 9 pounds, 8 ounces. That was the same day the hospital opened to welcome its first patients.

Alton Memorial Hospital has added seven new physicians to its staff this summer. They are Dr. Jaffer Asif and Dr. Paul Eckerle (pulmonology), Dr. Christine Taylor and Dr. Megan Sauer (OB/GYN), Dr. Jaleesa Gilbert-Gortman and Dr. Raffy Gutman (internal medicine) and Dr. Shoichiro Tanaka (plastic surgeon).