‘She would love it’ Co-workers honor hospital employee killed in Morristown with blood drive

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. (WATE) — Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System held a blood drive Friday in honor of an employee who was struck and killed by a vehicle in October.

Elizabeth “Beth” Block was crossing in a pedestrian crosswalk near the hospital when she was hit. The hospital partnered with Medic Regional Blood Center for the drive.

Her coworkers, Stacy Woolard and Valerie Victory, said they worked with Block since her first day at the hospital.

“She was genuine, she was helpful to everyone and very passionate about blood bank and the lab in general,” Woolard said.

Woolard said Block made a big impact on all of her coworkers.

“As a coworker, Beth was the fire of the department, she was everybody’s friend, she was so much fun, she made work seem a lot not work-y,” she said.

As the blood bank technical specialist, Block was known to be passionate about blood donation.

“Medic is very near and dear to her, so we are thrilled to know that maybe we’ll have some more blood on the shelves in her honor,” Victory said.

Marketing manager for the hospital, Jacob Forman, said the drive-in Block’s honor was a no-brainer.

“As soon as we started thinking of doing something to honor Beth and her memory, this is the first thing that the lab thought of, it was something that Beth always wanted people to give to,” Forman said.

All the blood donated at the drive, went toward what Block loved the most, helping the community.

“So this blood here today will impact different people throughout our community, it very well could be right here in Hamblen County, it also could be in another portion of East Tennessee,” Forman said.

Her coworkers are determined to keep Block’s memory alive.

“She would love it, she was very very big about giving to the community, she gave a lot of her time to community drives as well, so she would be thrilled to know that this is honoring her and in her name,” Woolard said.