Emanuel Employees Named “Tenet Heroes”

Two Emanuel Medical Center employees have been named “Tenet Heroes” as part of the annual tradition that recognizes extraordinary accomplishments among all of Tenet Healthcare’s 100,000 employees across the nation.

Emanuel Cancer Center Executive Director Michael Iltis and long-time Emergency Department nurse Jonathon Carroll were nominated by Emanuel administrators for their commitment to quality, integrity and service. Their nominations were reviewed by a national selection panel.

Iltis and Carroll join 135 other tenet employees nationwide to be nominated this year.

“As Tenet Healthcare’s highest recognition for colleagues, the Hero Awards celebrate exceptional people who exemplify Tenet’s core values,” said Cathy Fraser, senior vice president of Tenet Healthcare. “They define the best of who we are and what we stand for at Tenet.”

The Tenet Heroes program began in 2008 as a way to recognize employees who exemplify the company’s core values and go above and beyond the call of duty. Tenet’s core values are quality, integrity, service, innovation and transparency.

Emanuel CEO Sue Micheletti said Iltis and Carroll models those core values everyday.

“Michael and Jonathon are outstanding recipients of this award, and as the first Tenet Heroes at Emanuel they exemplify the outstanding quality of the people we have caring for patients here,” she said. “I’m very pleased they were recognized by the committee, because they are worthy of the title, Tenet Hero.”

Iltis, as the Executive Director of Emanuel Cancer Center, has been described as a friend, visionary, cheerleader, coach and fellow customer by the by the patients, physicians, nurses, staff and volunteers. When Emanuel began planning for a cancer center in the early 2000s, Iltis knew the value and need for top-quality care. By then, his wife had battled breast cancer twice — at ages 24 and 38 — and Iltis wanted to build a program that people in the local community would come to with utmost confidence in the care they would receive. Emanuel achieved that with the opening of the Center in 2007, and full accreditation by the American College of Surgeons a short while later.

In 2014, Iltis led the complete overhaul and revitalization of the all-volunteer hospitality program at the cancer center, all while supporting his wife through her fifth cancer occurrence and a close brush with death. The new program focuses on the small, simple things that can make a treatment appointment a little bit better for patients and their spouses, loved ones or support people.

During his 35-year career at Emanuel, Carroll has been described by patients, co-workers and supervisors as kind, compassionate, humble and patient. In the Emergency Department, he is also the person everyone turns to when there is any sort of mechanical or medical equipment issue. He tracks all of the hospital’s emergency statistics for the cardiac arrest registry, and is part of the county-wide trauma audit committee.

In 2014, Carroll and his wife witnessed a terrible crash right in front of them as they drove on a county road. Jonathan used his years of emergency medical training to check on both drivers — one of whom had been killed instantly — and extricate an injured three-year-old boy as flames began to spread through the wrecked truck. His calm decision making and quick action saved the child’s life.