IRVING, TX – The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) announced it will present the 2013 Distinguished Health Service Award to Florence Shapiro for her career dedication to North Texas healthcare during the 65th Annual Awards Luncheon, Oct. 24 at the Arlington Convention Center.

Shapiro has served 30-plus years in public service including her long tenure as Texas State Senator from 1993 to 2013. She also spent six terms on the Plano City Council, served as the Mayor of Plano and President of the Texas Municipal League. Her series of bills known as “Ashley’s Laws,” which severely punishes sexual predators, became national benchmarks and earned her the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas’s “Legislator of the Year Award.”

“Senator Shapiro has been a friend of North Texas healthcare for more than two decades,” said W. Stephen Love, president and chief executive officer of DFWHC. “She is a deserving recipient of this award and we are looking forward to honoring her historical career on October 24.”

The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, Shapiro is presently serving as Vice President of the Dallas Holocaust Museum for Tolerance and Education. She also serves on the boards of the Southwestern Medical Foundation and Children’s Medical Center of Dallas.

Serving as the luncheon’s keynote speaker will be Doris Kearns Goodwin, the world-renowned historian and author. Goodwin won the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for her biography “No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.” Her 2005 work “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” was a No. 1 New York Times best seller and made into the 2012 film “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg and nominated for 12 Academy Awards.

During the luncheon, DFWHC will recognize Young Healthcare Executives of the Year, awards designated for North Texas healthcare leaders 40 years of age or younger. There will also be the inaugural presentation of the Kerney Laday, Sr. Trustee of the Year Award, named in honor of the long-time board member of Texas Health Resources and Parkland Memorial Hospital.

DFWHC, a hospital trade association with 85 hospital members and 44 years of service to North Texas healthcare, is governed by a 14-member board committed to the continuous improvement of patient care.

The luncheon is sponsored in part by Wilson Elser, LLP; GroupOne Services; CampbellWilson, LLP; Konica Minolta and The Dallas Business Journal. For more information, please contact Kristin Alexander or Chris Wilson at 972-719-4900.

# # #

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 15, 2013

Contact:
Chris Wilson
Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council
Office: 972.719.4900
chrisw@dfwhc.org