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77. o no f> Son Greoro Thursday, March 13, 2003 City business woman wins national honour By Arthur Milnes SPECIAL TO THE INTELLIGENCER KINGSTON - The founder and president of one of eastern Ontario's leading healthcare companies has won a prestigious award from the Black Business and Professional Association. Belleville's Georgina Thomp- son, president of All-Care Health Services Ltd., was named one of this year's Harry Jerome Award winners. "It's exhilarating to be recog- nized by the black commu- ni t y as a l e a d e r , " T h o m p s o n , who won in the business excellence cat- egory, told The Whig-Standard n e w s p a p e r Wednesday. "I never dreamed I 'd ever be nominated or that I'd ever win it." GEORGINA THOMPSON The award will be presented in a gala ceremony April 26 in Toronto. In becoming a Harry Jerome Award winner -- named after one of Canada's star Olympic athletes - - Thompson joins an elite group that includes former Ontario lieutenant-governor Lin- coln Alexander, boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter and jazz giant Oscar Peterson. The awards were founded in 1983 to promote entrepreneur- ship, economic development, equity and opportunity in the black community. Thompson's company has more than 200 staff working in Kingston, but is headquartered in Belleville. They include registered nurs- es, health care aides and person- al support workers. Besides countless private clients, the company provides relief workers in all of the peni- tentiaries in Eastern Ontario. It now employs more than 400 people in seven counties in east- ern Ontario and has offices in Belleville, Bancroft and Kingston. Thompson was also he founder and executive director of the Regional Hospice of Quinte, the first freestanding hospice in Canada. In 2002, Thompson was cho- sen winner of The Intelligencer's Women in Business award. Osprey Media Group The Whig-Standard, Kingston f e///qencer- \J 13,