Health Department

January 2019

Huge congrats to Maya Williams for being the Employee of the Month for January 2019! Ms. Williams started working for CHD in April 2001 after years working in WIC. She manages the payroll process, HR processing, onboarding and FMLA. She’s been a City employee since 1999 where she started working at Fleet Services.

Williams embodies what it means to be a leader, a team player and a role model of our CHD core values. When asked why she was deserving of the recognition, Harry Barnes, HR Manager and Ms. Williams’ supervisor, responded, “Ms. Williams delivers professional, patient, dedicated and dependable service to CHD daily. Most employees do not understand what processes must be completed in order to receive timely paychecks, personal data changes, step up pay and merit pay.” Barnes emphasized that Ms. Williams works hard to meet required deadlines so that employees receive pay and other transactions in a timely manner.  “Ms. Williams often works beyond regular work hours to ensure timely outcomes,” stated Barnes.

Williams consistently demonstrates dedication, patience and high level of customer service. Despite numerous challenges, she meets central payroll deadlines while overseeing a process where key partners do not meet the required timelines. She excels in every area each pay period in this effort.

“Ms. Williams will stay after hours to ensure payroll processing meets the required deadline without any employee missing a paycheck,” explained Barnes.

Ms. Williams’ personal motto that she lives by is “Treat others how I want to be treated!”

The purpose of the Employee of the Month Program is to recognize employees who have served CHD in an exceptional manner by exemplifying our core values through his/ her work and exhibiting a positive and supportive attitude.

February

Robert Smith is the supervising sanitarian of CHD’s Technical Environmental Services (TES) program. Technical Environmental conducts the city’s public swimming pool, household sewage, vector control, and animal bite/exposure inspections. TES also conducts pest control services at approximately 30 city owned locations, monitors mosquito bourne disease, and baits Cincinnati’s sewers. Smith has been supervising the program for over a year now but has nearly 18 years of experience in TES. Smith has handled his first year as a supervisor marvelously; consistently producing top quality work. Robert’s experience, reliability and easy-going personality are key to his continued success.

“One of his biggest assets is that he embraces and values the Health Department’s commitment to customer service, and recognizes the impact that good customer service has on the quality of life for Cincinnati citizens. In this respect, he is very responsive to the public and his colleagues in satisfying their requests,” explained Antonio Young, Director, Environmental Health. “He is also effective in detecting and communicating issue that may become high profile/political hot button concerns to upper management in a timely fashion. He is one of CHD's friendliest employees; always arriving with a smile on his face and a happy greeting for his co-workers and clients.”

Young says that although it has been difficult, Smith has demonstrated patience and flexibility in having to make adjustment to staff and his workload trying to keep up with the task demands in the absence of a permanent Senior Sanitarian. He is the only Supervisor without this position filled. Despite the overwhelming amount of work, Robert consistently finds ways to help his co-workers and reaches to go above and beyond for his clients.  

Robert's commitment to educating the public is unequaled. He routinely conducts presentations and answers program questions during on-camera interviews, trainings, and at public informational booths. He conducts the annual traffic safety training for the sewer baiting program, holds several bed bug/vector control presentations, and is a regular at the annual Neighborhood Summit. 

He has shown resourcefulness by acquiring a grant for the second year through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) to offset cost for the summer mosquito surveillance program. He’s a team player with a very positive attitude. In the capacity, his willingness to explore the Health Department’s role and responsibility with legionella investigations and private water systems has been exceptional.

“It is with great pleasure and respect that I submit this nomination for Robert Smith to be recognized as the Employee of the Month. He is the gold standard in terms of professionalism, responsiveness and effectiveness,” Young emphasized.

Congratulations Robert Smith! Keep up the great work!

 

March

Big shout out and congratulations to Nancy Carter, RDH, MPH, for being the Employee of the Month for March 2019! Ms. Carter has had a long and successful career at CHD. She started here in 1983 as the Assistant Dental Director. In 2008, she was promoted to the Associate Dental Director, Office of Community Oral Health Programs within the Cincinnati Health Department.

During Nancy’s tenure, she has helped develop and implement community-wide programs directed to dental education, prevention of disease, and increasing access to dental services for children, the elderly, low-income, chronically ill, and disabled. Under Ms. Carter’s leadership, CHD has expanded its dental services from five to nine sites. She’s also driven the increase of the availability of dental care in the areas of emergency services and access to basic dental services for school-aged children.

The Cincinnati Health Department operates five dental centers, one school-based dental center and provides services on behalf of the thousands of community members without dental insurance. Carter oversees all aspects of the dental operations.

Ms. Carter has worked tirelessly for years to improve the oral care of children and adults in Cincinnati.  She has been instrumental in helping with the "Children's Specialty Dental Care" and "Leave No Vet Behind" programs.

“Although I’ve only worked with Ms. Carter for three years, I’ve consistently been impressed by her work ethic, productivity and accomplishments, as well as her obvious commitment to public health, the dental staff and CHD patients,” stated Marla Hurston Fuller, Director, Communications & Governmental Relations and award nominator for Ms. Carter. “Ms. Carter is always shy about being in the spotlight but she is the first to sing the praises of others,” Fuller emphasized.

Fuller further expressed the reason she felt Ms. Carter was a perfect award recipient, stating, “She has what it takes to achieve greatness in whatever she pursues and I’m delighted she chose public health decades ago – an area where so many of our oral health disparities abound and need the passion and hard work of people like her. Because of her, our program, our (public health) profession, and most importantly the children and communities she serves are positively impacted.”

Yury Gonzales, MD, Medical Director, CHD expressed his thoughts on Ms. Carter saying, “She has a deep-seated passion to serve the underserved, a vision and plan to go out and make a difference in the community, and actually deliver and execute that plan. Ms. Carter is a rare find. She is the type of individual that sets high goals and expectations for herself and follows through on achieving them. She is all about action, a do-er, and a natural leader.”

“Seeing Ms. Carter in direct interaction with the dental staff is most gratifying. She has this nurturing and supportive presence that seems to engage them effectively – a quality that well serves our organization and patients, both adult and pediatric alike,” explained Dr. Gonzales.

She was named a Cincinnati Business Courier Health Care Hero Finalist, and received the HealthPath Foundation of Ohio Community Connector award and the distinguished 2018 Jack W. Gottschalk, D.D.S Notable Service Award presented by The Cincinnati Dental Society’s Oral Health Foundation

Ms. Carter is a registered dental hygienist and holds a Master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky, and an Associate’s degree from The University of  Cincinnati.

April

 

This month we celebrate Michelle Daniels (MSN, RN), as April’s Employee of the Month! Congratulations!! Mrs. Daniels has been an employee of the Cincinnati Health Department for 21 years. She is currently the clinical manager/ nursing supervisor for the City of Cincinnati Primary Care Center’s Millvale at Hopple Street Health Center. In this role she is responsible for supervising clinical staff and working directly with our providers, and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the health center. Mrs. Daniels has been serving in this role for a year and a half, and she has been continually working to promote the services offered and develop partnerships with other community agencies for better health access and care to residents.

During her tenure with CHD, Mrs. Daniels has worked within various programs including Home Care, Children with Medical Handicaps, Immunization Action Plan (IAP), School Health, and Quality Management.

Ms. Phyllis Richardson, Health Program Manager and COO, described Mrs. Daniels as a “hard working manager, who believes in team work and encourages her staff to perform as a team.” Together, her staff have worked on a project called Thrive by Five, a model through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center that is designed to deliver high quality care to patients. Her team worked on improving immunization rates in 0-24 month old patients. They also created newborn welcome bags to give moms with the goal of helping the mothers to be compliant with follow up visits and immunizations.

Mrs. Daniels has become known for her keen ability to build collaboration and consensus amongst her team members for best outcomes. She’s demonstrated exemplary skill in bringing all staff together to work seamlessly with everything from registration to collaborating with the providers, and this is what contributed to the success of the Thrive by Five project.

“Each manager has their own individual strengths, which is great. I believe Michelle’s strength is the ability to pull staff together to works as a collective unit,” explained Ms. Richardson. “It’s imperative that we all work together, especially in a clinical environment, in order to succeed in every phase of the care delivery system. “She serves a critical role in ensuring that all the pieces are pulled together wholly and completely,” emphasized Ms. Richardson.

Mrs. Daniels is also recognized for her superior communication skills which are important assets as a manager. “Michelle always motivates her team and understands the importance and positive impact of listening to staff feedback,” expressed Ms. Richardson.

Under Mrs. Daniels leadership, the Millvale team won awards for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sentinel Influenza program. During the monthly Board of Health meeting in December, the Millvale team was recognized for their hard work on the project.

Ms. Richardson said that the quote that best describes Mrs. Daniels is “Tend to the people, and they will tend to the business” by John Maxwell.

Congratulations to Michelle Daniels for being selected as April’s Employee of the Month! CHD is proud of you!

 

May

           

It is with great enthusiasm that we announce John Dunham and Todd Dudley as the Employees of the Month for May 2019! Normally, the Cincinnati Health Department (CHD) celebrates one employee each month. This month however, the voting committee and senior leadership team had too much of a difficult task to acknowledge one without the other.

Although both men work very closely together and their job responsibilities often overlap, each individual brings their own knowledge, hard work, dedication, personality and team spirit to the organization. As Senior Environmental Safety Specialists, Mr. Dunham and Mr. Dudley have collectively 32 years of service to the Cincinnati Health Department; John having worked here for 25 years, and Todd 7 years (although he worked for the Sharonville Health Department (5 years), and Hamilton County Public Health (6 years) before coming to CHD).

As a team, this dynamic duo partner to develop, train on exercises, evaluate and revise emergency plans and protocols (including fire drills, Ebola and other communicable disease or disaster situations). They work around the clock, responding 24-7 as needed to emergencies in order to keep staff and community alike, safe and out of harm’s way. Together they also coordinate the Medical Reserve Corps and the Employee Safety Program (fit-testing, etc.).

In their role, they also inspect and evaluate the environment, equipment, and processes in working areas to ensure compliance with government safety regulations and industry standards. Their chief goal is to protect the employees, customers and the environment.

Individually, John is responsible for managing the Public Health Emergency Preparedness sub-grant, while Todd manages the Cities Readiness Initiative grant.

Commissioner Moore has been working closely with John and Todd since her arrival last August, and she nominated them for Employee of the Month. She expressed that they were “deserving of the recognition because they are very pleasant, willing to step in and step up, and have a sense of urgency.” Commissioner Moore described them as “true team players who have positive attitudes and exemplify the core values of CHD.”

Another nominator, Sharon Hutchins, Ph.D., MPH, Supervising Epidemiologist, Communicable Disease Unit, shares Commissioner Moore’s sentiment about the dynamic duo. “They consistently demonstrate a positive, can-do attitude,” Hutchins stated. “They are also very much respected for being proactive. They exude a quiet competence and deep expertise while being flexible and reliable.”

Always on call 24-7-365, they frequently work odd and long hours. Dr. Hutchins recalled a time where they set up an entire Incident Command System response to Hepatitis A in a timely manner, despite an already heavy workload.

Dr. Hutchins also praised the team for being able to explain very complicated rules and procedures in simplified language, their extreme patience and their interest and participation in mentoring students. Dr. Hutchins described the two men saying, “John is a rock!  Intelligent, knowledgeable, responsive, dependable, capable, tactful, always willing to help, and someone that you are happy to see show up in an emergency. A strong, calming and helpful presence.”

She described Todd saying, “Todd is a great leader and co-worker.  He does not have a chip on his shoulder, but is able to organize and lead due to his knowledge and skills and the respect he engenders in others.”

Congratulations to John Dunham and Todd Dudley for jobs well done and being selected as the May 2019 Employees of the Month!

June

 

It is with great enthusiasm that I announce Justin Berry, CDCAII, as the Employee of the Month for June 2019!  As a Health Counselor/ Addiction Counselor, Justin is the first official hire for the Cincinnati Health Department in the area of addiction and harm reduction.  “We were so lucky to have him apply for the health counselor position because so much of the role involves working with people in active addiction,” stated Jennifer Mooney, PhD, MS, Division Director, Community Health. 

For the past, year and a half, a good portion of his duties involves helping individuals struggling with addiction through the Cincinnati Exchange Project, a syringe exchange program.  This program is a public health harm reduction program aimed at reducing the spread of communicable disease by offering injection drug users access to sterile syringes, as well as safe disposal of used syringes. 

“Although we know this program can be quite controversial, we also know that it is fully supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the best method to reduce the spread of Hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV,” says Dr. Mooney.  

Justin staffs the exchange for the City’s strategically selected neighborhood locations four days a week.  He hopes to engage clients in other services as well, including health care and substance abuse treatment.  When not focusing on the mobile exchange project, Justin spends a great deal of time in the community.  He works with residents to find housing, food, and treatment services.  “This job is not for the faint of heart.  You have to muster up all kinds of courage to work with a variety of people experiencing true hardships in many ways.  Substance use disorder is usually only one of the many complex issues,” says Dr. Mooney. 

Dr. Mooney says, “Justin is a true public servant.  Where others would turn a blind eye, Justin approaches people and asks how he can help.  This is exceptional in a crisis that is tearing apart families through trauma and death.  He is an asset to the City.”   

In addition, Justin is working towards completing his Master’s Degree in Social work at Northern Kentucky University.  His expected graduation date is May 2020.

July

 

Ms. Shelia Nash has been a city employee for over 30 years. Ms. Nash started her career at CHD in 1986. Prior to working at CHD Sheila worked at a nursing home as a nurse’s aide. Ms. Nash’s interest in public health was born when one of her pregnant co-workers went into labor and she helped get her to the hospital to deliver her baby.  After giving birth, Ms. Nash overhead a conversation that the new mom had with the nurse that was assisting her with her newborn. It was then that she heard that the Cincinnati Health Department was hiring certified Nursing Aides. Ms. Nash immediately applied for the position the following day. Soon thereafter, Ms. Nash was hired as a nursing aide and the rest is history.

Ms. Nash has worked in Adult Nursing as a Home Health Aide for 23 years. During this time, she loved monitoring patient by observing physical and mental condition, as well as performing additional duties including intake and output, and exercise. In this role, she also supports patients by providing housekeeping and laundry services; shopping for food and other household requirements; preparing and serving meals and snacks; and running errands.

Years later, Ms. Nash decided to take on another role, and started working making phone calls, 200-300 a day, for patient appointments including primary care and dental.  Once the phone system became automated, Ms. Nash was in for another adventure, and took on the responsibility of working at the front desk at the Burnet and King facility. If you’ve been to the CHD, you’ve certainly been greeted by her with a warm welcome and smiling face. Ms. Nash’s bubbly personality, kind and gentle spirit, and friendly nature allows her to serve in this role seemingly meant especially for her responsible and outgoing disposition.  Daily, she assists visitors or patients visiting our health center to ensure they know how to get to their intended destination. She also assist with parking, emergencies and many deliveries among many other duties.

Health Commissioner Melba R. Moore, MS, CPHA, described Ms. Nash as being one of CHD’s most excellent representative for customer services. “She is highly reputed for her concern and courtesy. Such personal attributes also reflect well on the whole health department.”

One of Ms. Nash’s biggest accomplishments was her involvement in the living wage increase a few years ago. She was a big advocate for living wage increase in 2016, which increased minimum salaries for full time City Employee’s to $15 dollars and hour, and part-time city employees to $10.10 an hour.  The living wage increase was supported by Mayor John Cranley, and City Council passed the Ordinance on a 5-3 vote. 

Please join me in congratulating Ms. Nash on her latest accomplishment of being recognized as the July 2019 Employee of the Month! Way to go Sheila!

August

Our heartiest congratulations to Bridgette Moore and Paul Abeln on winning CHD’s Employees of the Month for August 2019.

There so many good things to say about the amazing team of Paul Abeln and Bridgette Moore of the Braxton Cann Pharmacy. Paul, a Pharmacist who began his career here in February 2009, and Bridgette, a Pharmacist Technician who started at CHD in June 2010, are ideal employees. Both not only display the true definitions of teamwork, intelligence, flexibility, compassion, reliability, empathy, responsibility, and organization, but they are also effective patient care advocates. One patient at time, they fulfill the vision and mission of the Cincinnati Health Department. Even during their recent relocation to another CHD pharmacy location due to construction currently underway at Braxton F. Cann Memorial Medical Center, they have continued to not only care for their patients but have taken on a new population at Ambrose H. Clement Health Center.

They also have been very flexible and positive in whatever has to be done. Braxton F. Cann Pharmacy is one of the model pharmacies for all of CHD’s pharmacy departments thanks to their hard work. Whether it is sharing their wisdom and expertise for television news programs, teaching a group visit class on chronic disease, or representing the pharmacist and pharmacy technician perspective on the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, they are always eager to volunteer and be an asset.

I truly appreciate them and am grateful that they are a part of the pharmacy team," said Melissa Tijsma, Public Health Nurse 2. "I've had the pleasure of working with Paul and Bridgette at Ambrose H. Clement while Braxton F. Cann was being renovated and they assisted with different tasks that were not a part of their required duties such as ordering medicines from the State for our STD walk in clinic," Michelle expressed. “Bridgette jumped in and helped me figure it out while Paul assisted me to help a patient get their medications even though they had no money.” Melissa also stated that although she and Robin Gulley, CNP offered to pay for the patient’s prescriptions, Paul managed the situation in a very appropriate manner to get the medicine the patient needed long term. "Paul and Bridgette are the BEST models of TEAM PLAYERS! They really do put patients first which is how it should be and they are phenomenal examples of patient advocates,” Melissa stated.

Please join me in a hearty shout out to both Paul and Bridgette.  Congratulations to Paul and Bridgette for a job well done and being recognized as the August 2019 Employees of the Month.

 

September

Jackie Silas, RN has been with the CHD for 26 years. She is currently working in Home Health as the Team Lead for the Community Health Worker's. During her tenure at CHD, she has worked two additional stints in Home Health, as well as with Every Child Succeeds, Lead Program, Primary Care (OB/GYN, Quality Improvement/Nursing Administration.  While at the CHD, she’s also completed a military career with the U.S. Army.

Ms. Silas has a great wealth of knowledge that she has obtained and shared in her two and a half decade career at CHD. She is always seeing the needs of her fellow employees, and offering kind words and support in times of trouble. She truly cares for her fellow colleagues and is not going to ask anyone to do something that she is not willing to do herself. If you have a concern, you can go to her, address the problem and you know it will be handled. If you have a question, you know she will help you, even if that means she stays over at the end of our workday. She is willing to do whatever she can to help the department strive!

Her nominations had the following comments,”Ms. Silas goes the extra mile for her patients and individuals both in and outside of her program.  Ms. Silas spends extra time with her patients when needed making sure they are aware of the community resources that are available.  She always offers kind words and support to her fellow employees and patients who are in need of assistance.

Ms. Silas is described as always willing to help; advocate for what is fair and just. It brings her great pleasure to know that she has helped so many people during her career and that quite a few still remember her despite all the time that has passed.

Public Health was a dream job for her while growing up in Chicago, Illinois. She was attracted to being able to educate and service the community to a state of better health and wellness. The military as well as CHD have given her the opportunity to do that.

October

It is with great enthusiasm that I announce Matthew Merritt as the October Employee of the Month. As a Sanitarian-in-Training in the Food Safety program, Matt performs inspections in all food facilities within his assigned area. His inspections are thorough, the reports are concise and accurate, and his follow-up work is exemplary. Matt’s education-first approach emphasizes the business operators’ duties in proper facility operation, with Health providing further education (or enforcement) as needed. Despite being a relative new-comer, Matt has shown an excellent grasp of the regulations and has participated in trouble-shooting problems with the inspection application software.

One particular effort on Matt’s part stands out. All sanitarians-in-training must pass a rigorous examination within five years of initial hire to become Registered Sanitarians. The examination is provided by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and is the de-facto standard in determining suitability of sanitarian candidates.

Within his first year, Matt took this examination and received a passing score from NEHA…but there was a complication. Ohio’s regulations contain an outdated clause specifying a 70% grade as being passing for the registration exam. Since the NEHA examination is a weighted-numerical score derived by a complex algorithm, there is literally no percentage equivalence for a 70% grade. Anecdotal information led the state regulators to believe otherwise.

Deeming NEHA’s passing score of 650 to be less than 70%, the regulators arbitrarily selected 657 as being representative of a passing score. This figure appeared nowhere in regulation, nor was any advisory issued as to what constituted a passing score for the examination. The only written notification of the expected passing score from the state was received in a letter advising individual candidates of their test results…not a public forum.

After Matt received the congratulatory letter from NEHA for his passing score of 653, he was shocked by a letter from the state of Ohio advising that he had not passed the test. His discussions with NEHA and the state led Matt to discover the scoring disconnect in Ohio’s regulations. Determined to see things put to right, he spearheaded the effort to get the regulations changed, not just for himself, but for everyone affected. There were two other City employees in the same predicament and several others throughout the state.

Ultimately, Matt proved successful. In a few short months, he researched the problem, determined a proper course to achieve a fair outcome, and continually followed-up to ensure the desired result. The state of Ohio has crafted regulations accepting the NEHA passing score of 650 as Ohio’s passing score, with results retroactive to a certain date to permit acceptance of a number of otherwise-disappointed candidates.

Throughout all of this, Matt maintained the professional behavior and polite insistence for fairness that is his hallmark. Matt’s excellent first year and exceptional achievement in behalf of Ohio’s budding sanitarians is in part why he was selected the “Employee of the Month”. But if you ask Environmental Health Leadership members Dr. Camille Jones, Mr. Antonio Young or his colleague Senior Sanitarian Neill Cade they all would agree that Matt should be selected as Employee of the Year!

November

Darlene Capell has been a city employee for over 31 years. She first started out working at the Police Department – Records Unit when they were located at 222 East Central Pkwy, then was relocated again to Broadway Avenue. While with the Police division she processed moving violations and parking tickets. After two years with the Police Department she was promoted to the Department of Transportation & Engineering (DOTE). There she maintained and handled the division supply orders, project and street files. If you wanted to know how a street received its name she had the information. Ms. Capell also assisted the public with aerial maps for develop plan review.

Ms. Capell spent 15 years with Engineering before she was promoted to the Cincinnati Health Department where she maintained the Medical Records at the Elm Street Health Center. Before Epic software became available, she manually processed patient’s records for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Jobs & Family Services, and other agencies, pulling critical lab reports for doctors’ review and covering the desk either for adult medical, OB/GYN, pediatrics and cashier when a co-worker was absent or at lunch. 

She now works at the desk outside of the Health Commissioner’s Office answering the phones and directing the public who wants to report health issues regarding their home, a restaurant or a place of business or if someone wants to become a patient at one of our Health Centers. She help assists co-workers when locating a phone number for other colleagues and scheduling rooms for meeting at the Burnet location.  She also helps out when the Health Centers have their late days to confirm patients’ appointments.