Boy Scouts honor Mercy Health CEO

The Boy Scouts and local figures gathered for the 2016 Distinguished Citizen dinner Sept. 29 at the Spitzer Conference Center, 1005 N. Abbe Road.

This year’s dinner honored Edwin Oley, CEO of Mercy Health Lorain Region.

Dale A. DeGirolamo, executive vice president and president elect of the Heart of Ohio Council, said the annual dinner is a chance to honor role models for the organization’s members.

“We hold this dinner annually because we are so involved in the community and we like to select community leaders or companies that are good models for our scouts,” he said before the dinner. “Many of them are involved in scouting.”

This is the 28th year that the dinner has been held. Past recipients of the award include Jack Matia in 2006, Leonard DeLuca in 2005 and Dr. Roy A. Church in 2001.

James Miller, a member of the organization’s board, said the scouts focus on building leadership skills in its membership.

“Our goal is to make sure that the scouting program is available for the youth of Lorain County,” he said. “There was once a scout executive that told me, ‘In Boy Scouts we get kids and we tell them we’re going to teach them camping and how to build a fire, how to tie knots and stuff, but really we’re teaching leadership.’ ”

DeGirolamo said that the process of finding the distinguished citizen for the year is quite prolonged.

“It’s a lengthy process,” he said. It involves a board, it involves agencies. We have a list of people that we just kind of keep an eye on over time, and they surface. The quality surfaces to the top. It’s very subjective, but all good things.”

Oley said he was surprised and honored to be chosen to receive the honor.

“When I look at the list of individuals that have been recognized by the Boy Scouts and this community ahead of me, I am extremely honored and privileged to get this award,” he said.

Despite the fact that Mercy currently is not partnering with the scouts on anything in particular, Oley said that he admires the work they do.

“They do a wonderful job with young people and developing them, helping them achieve their potential, developing potential leaders of the future, that’s extremely positive for individuals that are pursuing health care careers or leaders in the community,” he said. “So the service that they provide is invaluable.”