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McGarry Honored as YBPW’s Woman of the Year
BOARDMAN, Ohio -- Liz McGarry has helped raise more than $7 million to help establish new care centers for the terminally ill in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
That accomplishment, coupled with a long list of professional associations, volunteer work and her dedication to improving overall life in the Mahoning Valley, led to McGarry being named 2013 Woman of the Year by the Youngstown Business & Professional Women's Club during an dinner event Tuesday at Antone's Banquet Center.
"I'm very honored," said McGarry, director of development for Hospice of the Valley. "It's great to have such a wonderful group promoting women in business and education."
At Hospice, McGarry says she's responsible for raising funds for the nonprofit's programs, which deal specifically with those suffering from a terminal illness. "Dealing with the end-of-life is a huge undertaking," she said.
McGarry has also raised money for a host of nonprofits and volunteer causes that include the Second Harvest Food Bank, the American Heart Association and the Youngstown Symphony Guild.
"She is just a phenomenal woman," said Tracie Schmidt, president of the YPBW. " She has done a lot for the community."
The Youngstown Business & Professional Woman's Club has built up its membership over the last several years, Schmidt noted.
"We've really turned the organization around," she said. "We're attracting some phenomenal women who are outstanding members of the business community."
More than 120 attended the event Tuesday, which included a basket raffle and dinner. Proceeds were directed to the Dr. Anne McMahon Scholarship Award, which this year will provide $1,000 toward a woman's scholarship at Youngstown State University. The event was underwritten by Denise DeBartolo York and coincides with National Business Woman's Week.
Guests at last evening's dinner also heard from keynote speaker Patricia M. Sweeney, Mahoning County’s health care commissioner.
Sweeney spoke about her first years as a student at YSU, dropping out as a freshman, and how becoming interested in the health care field while working as a nurses' aide in a nursing home. "I found out I loved the elderly and was intrigued by the nurses’ knowledge," she recalled.
She applied to the nursing program at YSU, and was first rejected. But after taking additional courses that boosted her grade point average, she was accepted into the program and became a registered nurse and worked on the oncology floor at St. Elizabeth Hospital.
After the death of her mother, and with two kids and now the primary caregiver of her elderly aunt, Sweeny said she sought to become a visiting nurse, but there were no such opportunities available for custodial care nurses. That led Sweeney and longtime friend Jan Strasfeld to create Dacas Home Health Care, a private duty health care agency.
"There were lots of naysayers," she said. "But, we persevered. By 1984, our little business grew into a profitable Medicare, Medicaid-certified home care agency with over 45 registered nurses, nurses aids, physical and speech therapists." In 1986, the Western Reserve Care System, the forerunner of what would become Forum Health, purchased the business.
Sweeney went on to earn her juris doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh, and since March 2012, has served as health commissioner for Mahoning County, the first woman to hold that position.
"If you think you can, or you think you can't, either way you're going to be right," Sweeney advised her audience. "Education and hard work can open doors. Keep trying, believe in yourself, swing that bat and keep on swinging, and surround yourself with people who do what you love."
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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