Finding a mentor, colleague, or friend is a rare treasure. I am blessed to have Georgiann Watts as all three. Thank you, Georgia, for your tireless work over several decades towards the betterment of the Bedford Community, and thank you for being an inspiration to me. I hope you have a long and fulfilling retirement.

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Hello, Georgia. I apologize. I'm not able to be there with you in person. I really never got nervous about speaking to or in front of people that said, I have to tell you I'm really nervous with this video. And the reason is you just are that important to me personally and professionally, and I respect you so much.

I want to just talk to you about a couple of things. Uh, the first section is I want to thank you for a number of things. The first might surprise you. You were a mentor to me before you ever knew it. For those that are in the room that don't know. My mom, Pat worked for Georgia for several decades, and initially my mom was a certified nursing assistant, and I would go to work with mom or to pick mom up or to drop mom off.

And I met Georgia and I knew that she was a leader [00:01:00] because the way she acted also knew she was a leader because of the deep respect that my mother had for her then and carry through her career, uh, until she retired. Of course. Um, so I just want to thank you for being a mentor to me as a child. Um, and also as a young professional and throughout my career, second, I want to thank you for being an incredible college.

Um, we worked in three organizations really together, whether it be Carilion independent with Bedford Memorial hospital and then at Centra, and you were amazing as a colleague to me always. And most importantly, I want to thank you for being a friend, someone who I can always count on, to be honest with me, give me both the constructive and the positive feedback and really make sure I heard it.

And there's just, um, you're blessed in this life. If you have one. And I'm blessed to have you as someone who I can call my friend, I want to take [00:02:00] one another couple of minutes and, um, and congratulate you. And that is because I believe actually I know that you have had as significant if not more significant impact.

On the health care of Bedford county, then anyone else, any physician, any leader, anyone else. And now that's a pretty profound statement that said I'm coming at it from a standpoint of, I think, uh, I have been a little bit of an authority on health care in Bedford for a long time. So actually think I'm qualified to make it.

So I want to congratulate you on being a hero. To the people of Bedford county and city across for decades. And your work will continue for generations [00:03:00] because you've instilled such incredible qualities. And so many people that you gave of yourself tirelessly to your work, your impact will go on for generations.

Your impact is timeless. And last, I just want to say congratulations to you and Tom, you've worked hard many years. I hope and pray that you and Tom and your family have a long and phenomenal retirement. I hope that every wish you have comes true. I hope you approach retirement just as you've approached your work.

Which is with courage and with being inquisitive and with passion. And so I want to thank you for being all those things to me. I want to congratulate you for the impact that you've [00:04:00] had and really pioneering Bedford healthcare and will continue to have for generations. And then they'll ask again, I just want to congratulate you hope and pray that you and Tom have a many memory-filled retirement. And I definitely look forward to seeing you soon, um, on a trip back, uh, when I come back to Virginia, take care Georgia. Congratulations.