Frankfort Regional Medical Center employees step up to serve during winter storm

Frankfort Regional Medical Center January 30, 2026

When winter weather impacts the community, Frankfort Regional Medical Center’s colleagues work around the clock to ensure patient care continues without interruption.

During the snowstorm, visible preparations at Frankfort Regional included salted walkways, plowed parking lots and clearly marked entrances to ensure access to the emergency room. What is less visible is the more than 75 employees who remained inside the hospital overnight to carry out the mission of caring for and improving human life.

For people like Jill Sellards, a 27-year veteran of Frankfort Regional, and food and nutrition cashier, the decision to stay for the weekend to help prepare and serve meals was made without hesitation.

“I had the weekend off, but I knew many employees would be staying overnight at the hospital, and I wanted to do everything I could to get them hot meals,” Jill said. “If they can’t stay nourished, they can’t take care of the patients and that is what matters.”

Frankfort Regional provided free hot meals to employees throughout the storm, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner in addition to uninterrupted meal service for patients. The food and nutrition team were supported by colleague volunteers who helped prepare and deliver food to clinical teams across the hospital.

“It was our own version of a food delivery app,” said John Ballard, PhD, FACHE, chief executive officer of Frankfort Regional. “Once meals were ready, we would send out a message to the teams that needed us to bring food to them. Within a few minutes, we were grabbing carts and stacking to-go boxes with food.”

Hospital leaders credited the food and nutrition services team, led by Patrick Malm, director of food and nutrition services for their dedication to colleagues and the Frankfort community.

“I’m extremely thankful and proud to be a part of such a resilient team that truly showed up in a time of need. Several staff members played a vital role this past weekend to provide nourishment to patients and staff members, despite the inclement weather. Betty Washington (Cook), Tanya Jeffries (Supervisor), Nora Channa (Supervisor), Jill Sellards (Cashier), Taylor Black (Ambassador), Rachel Mills (Ambassador), Emily Smith (Ambassador), Mattie May (Ambassador), Elisha Graves (Cook),” said Patrick.