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Business briefs

SOUTHWOODS WINS AWARDS: Southwoods Health has announced The Surgical Hospital at Southwoods has earned the 2019 Pinnacle of Excellence Award and the 2019 Guardian of Excellence Award from Press Ganey. Southwoods received these awards for providing a consistently excellent patient experience.

The Pinnacle of Excellence Award recognizes top-performing clients from health care organizations nationwide on the basis of extraordinary achievement and maintaining consistently high levels of excellence for at least three consecutive years.

The Guardian of Excellence Award is a nationally recognized symbol of achievement in health care. Presented annually, the award honors organizations who consistently sustained performance in the top 5 percent for each reporting period during the course of one year. Southwoods has received this award every year since its inception in 2013.

Southwoods is one of three hospitals in Ohio to receive the Pinnacle of Excellence Award, one of 13 to receive the Guardian of Excellence Award, and one of only two to receive both awards.

PNC DONATES: PNC Financial Services Group has donated $3,000 to Alta Head Start and to the YWCA of the Mahoning Valley to support early childhood education initiatives.

Under PNC’s Grow Up Great program, employees can earn grants for organizations of their choice by volunteering 100 hours throughout the year. Two teams of 10 employees volunteered at YWCA and Alta Head Start this year to earn the grants. The employees assisted inside and outside the classroom in areas such as taking children on class field trips, reading to children and administrative office work.

PNC employees receive 40 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer in the community as individuals or as part of a team with their colleagues.

PRODIGAL MARKS 25TH: The Prodigal Company, a Boardman-based branding, marketing and digital firm, is rounding out 25 years with a number of new clients and projects.

On the digital front, Prodigal was recently awarded the contract to develop a national web-based platform to connect all of the STEM ecosystems across the country by the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM. Another national client, TLC Insurance Group, asked Prodigal to create a new website to connect its agents nationwide in providing exceptional group retiree and Medicare coverage options.

Other digital work included a new e-commerce website for the essential oil brand, Revive The Crown, a new website and branding for MJ Patrick and Company and several interactive projects for the Regional Income Tax Agency.

Several new accounts joined the roster of Prodigal’s clients, including Alta Behavioral Healthcare and Briarfield / EDM Management, Inc. This includes ongoing marketing communications support from creative and design to strategic marketing plans, public relations, social media management and video production. The company was also awarded branding, strategic and digital communications projects for the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corporation.

Prodigal also saw its presence increase in the manufacturing world with new projects for Taylor-Winfield Technologies Inc. and in 3-D printing for Grale Technologies Inc. and Big Metal Additive.

CHAMBER RECOGNIZES LAWMAKER: The Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber has chosen Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof as the 2019 Political Achievement Award recipient.

Obhof worked with local lawmakers to pass emergency legislation to pave the way for the HomeGoods distribution center in Lordstown and supported Drive It Home, a campaign to restore jobs to the former Lordstown General Motors assembly complex.

Obhof will be presented the award at the chamber’s Salute to Elected Officials today at the Avalon Inn. The event is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and costs $25 for chamber members, $35 for nonmembers and $10 for elected officials.

New Businesses

CBD STORE OPENS: Tri-Healthy CBD, which already has a store inside the Eastwood Mall, has opened a second store inside the Southern Park Mall. The move is an expansion from a cart the operator already has at Southern Park.

The store will provide a greater selection of CBD oils, tinctures, gummies, suckers, edibles, salves, balms, topicals and other specialized CBD products.

In addition, Tri-Healthy at Southern Park Mall will have a series of workshops and seminars on topics like CBD and the aging process, hemp agriculture and one on epilepsy.

ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE CENTER OPENS: Crew Racing & Rehab, 1305 Boardman Canfield Road, Suite 2, Boardman, works with athletes and individuals to maximize potential. The move to the newly renovated office gives patients and athletes in the Mahoning Valley the opportunity to work with performance coaches and physical therapists in a private, one-on-one setting.

NEW FITNESS CENTER: Anytime Fitness, 6442 S. Raccoon Road, Canfield, is a new 24-hour, anytime fitness facility. Clients will meet with their coach every 30 to 45 days to make sure they are achieving their fitness and health goals using a body scan machine. Clients also will be provided their own heart rate monitor and online dietitian. Team workouts, small group training and personal training are available.

People on the Move

DENTIST JOINS ONE HEALTH OHIO: Dr. Madiha-Khurram Bhatty has joined ONE Health Ohio provide basic dental services to patients of all ages at ONE Health’s Northside Dental Center, 500 Gypsy Lane, Medical Building A, Third Floor.

Dental services offered include hygiene cleanings, dental exams, fillings, extractions and X-rays.

To submit local items for Business Briefs, People on the Move or New Business listings, email business@tribtoday.com or go to the Virtual Newsroom at www.tribtoday.com, click Submit News and then click “business.”

Business briefs

HBK ACQUIRES TECH FIRM: HBK IT LLC, a member of the Youngstown-based HBK family of companies, has acquired Unicom Solutions Group of Mountainside, N.J.

Unicom is a technology-consulting firm established in 1991 offering a suite of services to small and midsize private companies, nonprofits and government agencies.

The acquisition adds to the offerings of HBK IT LLC, which provides various digital transformation, managed services, cybersecurity consulting and enterprise resource planning to clients in a variety of industries.

HBK provides small to mid-market businesses multiple services, including accounting, tax and audit services, wealth management, business valuation, corporate finance, forensic accounting, litigation support services and business consulting.

BBB TO MEET: The Better Business Bureau in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties will have its annual meeting of accredited businesses 9 a.m. Nov. 20 at the Davis Education & Visitor Center at Fellows Riverside Gardens.

BBB-accredited businesses are invited to learn how BBB is building a network of trustworthy businesses in the Mahoning Valley.

The agenda will feature a video presentation of BBB TrustBuilders: PNC Bank, Homes Savings Bank, Huntington Bank, Farmers National Bank and Chemical Bank.

People on the Move

PR FIRMS BRINGS ON DIRECTOR: Houck Agency, a Youngstown public relations and marketing agency, has hired Allison Engstrom as its new account director.

Engstrom comes to Houck Agency from Penn State University, where she spent more than three years as the director of development and alumni relations for the Shenango campus in Sharon, Pa. She’ll provide experience in community relations, project management, copywriting, social media marketing and grant writing to the agency’s roster of business-to-business, health-care, professional services and nonprofit clients.

She previously worked as development coordinator at Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.

STRUTHERS NATIVE RETIRES FROM SPORTSCASTING: Struthers native John Popovich, WCPO-9 in Cincinnati, will retire after a 40-year career covering sports. During his career, he won six Emmy Awards and was inducted into the Silver Circle by The Ohio Valley Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

BANK ADDS TO MORTGAGE LENDING TEAM: Farmers National Bank, based in Canfield, has brought on Beth Fruehstorfer as mortgage loan consultant to work with customers at the bank’s Beaver, Pa., location.

Fruehstorfer, who has nearly 20 years of experience in the western Pennsylvania region, previously worked in various roles for logistics and manufacturing companies.

SOFTWARE COMPANY ADDS TO STAFF: Neo3, a Canfield-based business software solutions company, has hired Youngstown native Blake Rhein Jr. as its new enterprise resource planning (ERP) application consultant.

Rhein, who has nearly 10 years of experience in manufacturing inventory management and data analytics, will work with clients in selecting, implementing and training and support of an ERP solution to simplify and streamline business operations.

STAFF ADDED AT MODERN OFFICE PRODUCTS: Modern Office Products in Boardman has added Tim Deemer as account specialist and Nate Reichenbach as manager of furniture operations.

Deemer will be responsible for generating new business as well as growing and maintaining existing accounts. He worked at Modern in delivery and set-up before leaving for school and most recently worked at Pepsi in Tulsa, Okla.

Reichenbach returns to oversee operations of new and pre-owned furniture departments. He was Modern’s furniture department manager for about 10 years before leaving to pursue other opportunities.

DOCTOR JOINS AKRON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: Dr. Leilanie Perez Ramirez recently joined Akron Children’s Hospital’s Allergy and Immunology department. She sees patients in both Akron and the Mahoning Valley.

Prior to joining Akron Children’s, Perez Ramirez worked as a physician in Jacksonville, Fla., and as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Fla.

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