NPMC names Sheila Paskell as Mercy Award Winner

National Park Medical Center is pleased to announce Sheila Paskell, RN, as NPMC’s 2024 LifePoint Mercy Award winner. The Mercy Award recognizes one employee from each of Lifepoint Health’s facilities who profoundly touches the lives of others and best represents the spirit and values on which the company was founded.

The Mercy Award is the highest award an employee can receive. It is an annual recognition program that honors the life and contributions of Scott Mercy, Lifepoint’s founding chairman and chief executive officer.

“As our Committee and Executive team considered each of our nominees for the award, Sheila stood out both for her incredible dedication to community service and for her compassionate, caring approach to nursing at National Park Medical Center,” said Scott Bailey, CEO.

Paskell fulfills NPMC’s mission of “Making Communities Healthier” every day. When not caring for patients at NPMC, she is in the community giving her time, resources and knowledge to improve the lives of others. She is the founder of the Women of Purpose Ministry in her home church, which mentors, and advocates for young women in the community, teaching them basic life principles and sharing life experiences. She also utilizes her contacts in healthcare and the community to organize a large community health and resource event featuring free health screenings, educational sessions and panel discussions which draws hundreds of attendees annually.

She is a licensed missionary, a prayer line leader, and a volunteer for the Giving Team and the Difference Makers. The Difference Makers is a program for the elderly to educate them on chronic disease processes, and how to get needed medications and services. She organizes Socks for Seniors, toy and food drives and Angel Tree donations. She also helps to make it easier for her co-workers to give back by managing drop-off points within her unit at the hospital.

Passionate about total care nursing, Paskell is a charge nurse on her unit and is known for maintaining a soothing tone and calming presence. When patients’ families are having a difficult time, Paskell is called upon to provide them with peace and understanding. She also develops a strong rapport with her patients and families and has been known to come from home to sit with, console and spend time with the grieving families.

Her coworkers say she is an inspiration and describe her as compassionate, spiritual, pleasant, efficient, always positive, warm-hearted, sympathetic, hardworking, empathetic, understanding, optimistic and cheerful.

Paskell was also won the honor in 2020. 

About National Park Medical Center 

National Park Medical Center is a 163-bed full-service acute care hospital located in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Our mission is simple: Making Communities Healthier.  We are a part of the LifePoint Health family of hospitals, which means we aim to create a place where people choose to come for healthcare, physicians want to practice, and employees want to work.  Our core values are honesty, integrity & trustworthiness, inclusion, compassion and legal/ethical compliance.  Our hospital’s Joint Commission accreditation powerfully demonstrates our commitment to meeting the highest national standards for quality and safety.