Harrison, AR-October 2026 - North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC) President and CEO Sammie Cribbs Roberson, MSN, AGCNS-BC, APRN, has been named the recipient of the Arkansas Hospital Association's (AHA) A. Allen Weintraub Memorial Award, recognizing her outstanding leadership and contributions to healthcare in Arkansas.
The award is among the AHA's most distinguished honors and recognizes individuals whose leadership, service and dedication have made a lasting impact on Arkansas hospitals and the communities they serve.
The recognition comes alongside two additional statewide honors for Roberson. In recent weeks, she was also named one of 12 recipients of the 2026 Legacy Makers recognition by Arkansas Money & Politics and was included in the publication's list of Arkansas' Top 100 Professionals. These honors recognize her influence as a leader and the contributions she continues to make to healthcare and communities throughout Arkansas.
Together, these recognitions reflect the significance of Roberson's leadership and the impact of her work both within NARMC and across the state.
Roberson's nomination for the A. Allen Weintraub Memorial Award highlights her leadership, advocacy for rural healthcare and longstanding commitment to the patients, employees and communities NARMC serves.
For those interested in learning more about the accomplishments and contributions behind this recognition, we invite you to read her full nomination below.
A. Allen Weintraub Memorial Award Nomination
Every day, people walk through the doors of North Arkansas Regional Medical Center during some of the most significant moments of their lives.
Some arrive anxious after receiving an unexpected diagnosis. Others celebrate the birth of a child, receive life-saving treatment after a stroke or heart attack, begin the difficult journey through cancer treatment, or are brought through the emergency department during the worst day they may have ever experienced.
Healthcare is often measured by outcomes, technology, quality metrics, and financial performance. Those things matter.
But ask Sammie Cribbs Roberson what defines great healthcare, and her answer is much simpler.
People.
Spend any amount of time around Sammie and it quickly becomes clear that she has never viewed healthcare as simply buildings, budgets, or service lines. She sees people first. Patients. Employees. Physicians. Volunteers. Community partners. Every decision she makes begins with the understanding that behind every policy, every budget, every strategic initiative, and every difficult conversation is a person whose life will be affected by the outcome.
Long before she became President and Chief Executive Officer of North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, Sammie understood something that has guided every stage of her leadership: healthcare has never just been about buildings, budgets, or even hospitals.
It has always been about people.
That belief shapes every decision she makes.
Financial stewardship is not simply about improving an operating margin. It protects access to care for future generations.
Investing in technology is not about keeping pace with innovation. It gives patients access to advanced treatment without leaving the communities they call home.
Recruiting physicians and advanced practice providers is not about organizational growth. It ensures families can continue receiving care from people they know and trust.
Even the most difficult decisions are ultimately guided by the same question:
How will this help us care for people better?
That perspective has never been more important than it is today.
Rural healthcare is facing unprecedented challenges. Hospitals across the country continue to navigate workforce shortages, financial pressures, increasing regulatory complexity, and growing expectations for high-quality care. In many communities, those pressures have resulted in difficult compromises and shrinking access to essential services.
Under Sammie's leadership, North Arkansas Regional Medical Center has chosen a different path.
The organization has strengthened its financial foundation while continuing to invest in its future. Maternal and newborn services have expanded. Robotic-assisted surgery has transformed surgical care. Stroke and cardiac programs have earned national recognition. Pediatric therapy services have grown. Emergency medical services have continued to evolve. New physicians and advanced practice providers have joined the organization. Innovative programs have improved access to care throughout North Arkansas.
Those accomplishments deserve recognition, not because they are impressive, but because every one of them represents someone whose life is better today because under Sammie's leadership, North Arkansas Regional Medical Center chose to keep moving forward.
Those outcomes did not happen by chance. They are the result of disciplined leadership, thoughtful stewardship, and the ability to make difficult decisions without losing sight of the organization's purpose. Sammie understands that caring for people and making sound business decisions are not competing priorities. In rural healthcare, they are inseparable. Every strategic investment, operational improvement, and financial decision has been made with the same goal: ensuring North Arkansas Regional Medical Center remains strong enough to serve the next patient, the next family, and the next generation.
A mother who delivers her baby close to home.
A stroke patient who receives life-saving treatment without delay. A child who has access therapy in their own community.
A family that spends less time traveling and more time together during cancer treatment. Those stories are the true measure of Sammie's leadership.
Perhaps nowhere is that leadership more evident than in the culture she has built.
Sammie has been quoted saying, "If the walls of North Arkansas Regional Medical Center disappeared tomorrow, the people would make it sustain."
It's a simple statement, but it reveals everything about the way she leads. She believes people are the organization's greatest strength.
Not as an abstract ideal, but as the foundation upon which exceptional healthcare is built.
She believes that when people know they are trusted, supported, and valued, they become capable of extraordinary things. She believes that investing in employees ultimately improves the care patients receive. She believes healthcare is strongest when every member of the organization understands both the importance of their work and the value they bring to it.
That belief has shaped North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in ways that cannot always be measured.
Employees are encouraged to solve problems instead of waiting for permission. leaders are developed by being trusted with responsibility. Innovation is welcomed from everyone because good ideas are not limited by job title. Compassion is never viewed as someone else's responsibility.
The result is more than a positive workplace culture.
It is an organization where people care deeply for one another because they have first experienced that care themselves.
That culture extends far beyond the hospital.
Those who work alongside Sammie see that same philosophy reflected in the moments that never make headlines. When a patient undergoing treatment quietly shared that they were struggling to afford food, Sammie didn't simply express concern. She made sure the right people were involved and that the patient received the support they needed. More than once, she has learned of someone in the community facing a difficult circumstance and immediately began asking how she or the organization might help. She doesn't distinguish between patients, employees, or members of the community when someone needs help. To Sammie, caring for people has never been limited by titles, circumstances, or whether someone walks through the hospital's doors.
As a Delegate for the Arkansas Hospital Association, Sammie has been a steadfast advocate for rural healthcare and for the communities that depend on it. She has championed maternal and infant health, recognizing that preserving labor and delivery services is not simply about maintaining a department, but about protecting the future of families and communities across North Arkansas.
She collaborates with educators, business leaders, nonprofit organizations, civic partners, and healthcare leaders because she understands that healthier communities are never built by one organization alone. Lasting impact comes from people working together in service of something greater than themselves.
North Arkansas Regional Medical Center has served this region for more than seventy-five years. Leading an organization with that history requires more than vision. It requires the wisdom to preserve what matters, the courage to adapt when necessary, and the discipline to ensure the organization is stronger for the next generation than it was for the last.
Sammie has done exactly that. Through disciplined strategic leadership, thoughtful financial stewardship, and an unwavering commitment to the people the organization exists to serve, she has strengthened the organization entrusted to her, while never losing sight of the reason it exists. She has invested in its future while honoring its past. She has led with humility through seasons of challenge and seasons of growth alike. Most importantly, she has never allowed organizational success to become the goal.
The goal has always been people.
Patients. Employees. Physicians. Families. Communities.
The A. Allen Weintraub Memorial Award honors leaders remembered not only for what they accomplish, but for the way they care for patients, employees, their communities, and the future of healthcare in Arkansas.
Those are the qualities that define Sammie Cribbs Roberson.
She would never seek recognition for herself. In fact, she would almost certainly prefer the spotlight be directed toward her employees, physicians, volunteers, and community partners, believing they are the ones who deserve the credit. I believe leadership like Sammie's deserves to be recognized, not because she seeks recognition, but because it reminds all of us what healthcare leadership can be at its very best.
Leaders like Sammie understand that caring for people and leading a successful organization are not separate responsibilities. They are one and the same. By strengthening North Arkansas Regional Medical Center through sound stewardship, strategic vision, and an unwavering commitment to the people it serves, she has created an organization that is not only positioned for the future, but one that continues to inspire those privileged to work alongside her and those who will lead after her.
For that reason, and because she so clearly embodies the spirit of the A. Allen Weintraub Memorial Award, it is my honor to nominate Sammie Cribbs Roberson for this recognition.