Vernon Copeland Memorial Fund

All,

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing about one of our Beck Tampa family passing last week.

Vernon Copeland was recommended to us by TGH on one of our first jobs with them in 2011. This was the start of Beck Healthcare in Tampa and Vernon was an important figure for both Beck and TGH. While he had many roles, his main responsibility was keeping everyone safe from infection, and he could always be counted on to watch out for the patients and hospital staff safety.

His job required him to work nights, weekends and long hours. His dedication to Beck and TGH safety will be sorely missed. He was a huge part of a great team which liked to have fun as well as work and you could always count on him for a laugh. Vernon knew everyone from the McDonalds crew to the ER staff and most departments in-between. He made friends everywhere he went. There was one famous catch phrase he would use whenever I asked him to keep a close eye on someone or watch critical areas we had to work, “I gotch you man.” We knew when he said this there was nothing to worry about. An example; I asked him to watch over another Beck employee who was close to retiring and occasionally had health issues if he worked too hard. He took it to heart and watched like a mother hen with great success. Vernon was very proud to help and keep it under wraps so the employee was able to retire without incident and respectfully. Another of my favorite memories is stopping and talking with Vernon on the bridge to TGH, where he loved to fish after work. Many of us had to walk that bridge every day to park and everyone that passed Vernon stopped to chat and get one of his famous antidotes or just share a laugh.

It is my hope that we are able to let Vernon’s wife Hope and his family know how much he meant to us and that “we gotch you man.” People like Vernon are rare and he left us way too soon. He will be missed.

Kevin Reardon

Regional General Superintendent