April 16, 2018
Joel Gordon and Milla Perry Jones received the third Nap Gary Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the ASC Community during ASCA’s annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, last week. The annual award recognizes individuals who have made a positive difference in the ASC community during many years of dedicated service.
2018 Nap Gary Legacy Award Winners: Joel Gordon and Milla Perry Jones
Rebecca Craig, RN, CASC, ASCA Board president at the time, presented the award to Joel Gordon recognizing his contributions as co-founder of Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA) and a pioneer in the ASC industry. She also mentioned that he is a veteran of the US Air Force and was selected to carry the torch in Nashville as part of the 1996 Olympics.
Absent from the meeting upon his physician’s advice, Gordon sent a message of thanks. “I have enjoyed great success in many years in the health care field,” said Gordon. “Founding Surgical Care Affiliates and being one of the leaders in the early days of outpatient surgery was the pinnacle of my career, and I have great admiration for those of you who have followed in building outpatient surgery centers into the exceptional business they are today.
“I very much appreciate the honor of receiving the Nap Gary Lifetime Achievement Award,” he added. “I knew Nap well and had great admiration for his ability and devotion to health care in general and outpatient surgery in particular. I feel honored to be compared to the outstanding individual Nap was.”
ASCA Board Member Ann Shimek, RN, CASC, presented Perry Jones’s award, calling her an icon in the ASC community and thanking her for organizing hundreds of facility tours for policy makers, helping to build a national network of elected officials who understand and support ASCs in significant ways and providing strategic guidance to several political action committees.
“As a member of ASCA’s State Affairs Committee, Government Affairs Committee and ASC State Taskforce over many years,” said Shimek, “she has shaped the state and federal government relations programs at ASCA. In her home state of Texas, she was instrumental in turning the state ASC association into a recognized powerhouse in the state capitol. She was the Texas ASC Association’s longest serving board member and served as chair of both the association’s Legislative Affairs Committee and TASCPAC. Her work has been instrumental in supporting legislative victories that have benefited ASCs across the country.” Perry Jones retired as vice president of government relations at USPI in December 2017.