Talitha Freeman Named 2025 Joan Fernbach Kingson Award Recipient

Congratulations to Talitha Freeman, a Cardiac Care Technician, who was selected as the 2025 recipient of the Joan Fernbach Kingson Award.

Talitha was nominated by Dr. Twiggy Eure, Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging, who remarked on Talitha’s embodiment of the Crouse culture and willingness to go above and beyond in lending a hand wherever needed.

“Talitha is a kind, smart and conscientious team member who goes beyond expectations,” the nomination said. “She provides care-passion to our patients, families and co-workers every day. When I see Talitha with patients, she handles the patients with care and takes the time to speak to them while transporting them to their next stop. She is passionate about learning, excelling and growing at Crouse.”

The Joan Fernbach Kingson Award was established to recognize service or technical workers like Talitha, whose special interactions with patients and families give vivid expression to the values of care which Mrs. Kingson was committed to in her work with children and families.

Those values include treating each patient as an individual; respecting the social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical needs of others, and welcoming families, especially the young, into the caring process. The often unseen gifts of service and technical workers acknowledged by this award include the gift of careful listening, the simple joy of human-to-human conversation, the sharing of silence, or the warmth of touch. In giving of themselves so generously to others, awardees help sustain the essence of humanity and exemplify the best traditions of Crouse Health.

About the Award
This annual cash prize is made possible by the family and friends of former Crouse Hospital patient Joan Fernbach Kingson, a nurse and educator who passed away in 2001. Syracuse University professor Eric Kingson was her husband and is the author of Lessons from Joan, Living and Loving with Cancer, a Husband’s Story. To see past recipients of the award, click here.