Public Health Heroes 2008

On Thursday, April 10th, the Health Department will host the 8th annual Public Health Heroes Celebration to honor individuals, organizations and businesses that promote public health in their everyday lives. After receiving 75 nominations in six categories, we are pleased to announce the winners of the 2008 Public Health Heroes Awards:

Josiah Hill Community Leadership Award:

Antonio Lopez

As principal of Clarendon Portsmouth Elementary School, Antonio is a true champion of community engagement and public health. Principal Lopez is committed to community capacity building, and he recognized the important role that parents could play in leading the HEAL (Healthy Eating, Active Learning) Coalition's vision and priorities. He is incredibly committed to parent leadership development, and it is impressive to watch him go to great lengths to assure large numbers of parent participation in PTA meetings, meetings that he facilitates in both Spanish and English to accommodate the growing diversity of his school community. He sees his school as more than a place of learning for students, but rather as a place for community to come together to learn, share, and give back. He has a strong sense of social justice, and this comes through in his daily interactions and the broader tone he sets within the school community.

Dr. Bob Sayson

Dr. Bob Sayson is the founder of the Good News Community Health Center in Rockwood in May 2007. Previously, he was a medical physician at Mt. Hood Medical Center in Gresham. He saw many patients who couldn't afford to come back for follow up treatment. He decided to quit his lucrative career and start a clinic for people who had no insurance and who couldn't qualify for the Oregon Health Plan. Being driven by compassion, he sought out ways to open a clinic and a donor soon approached him and made it possible to help purchase a small house in the Rockwood area and turn it into a clinic. Dr. Sayson spends 4 days a week volunteering and overseeing a clinic in one of the neediest areas in Portland. If a patient comes to the clinic and cannot afford the $10.00 minimum payment or the lab fee of $5.00, he or she is given a voucher that lets them donate their time at the Good News Community Health Center. That way they still get treatment and maintain their dignity by “giving back” and also giving them a sense of purpose.

Katie Jeans - Gail Award for Young Heroes:

Albert Le, Anatoliy Vlasenko, Thath Kim, Justine Grandbois, Louis Herbert, Jordan Pulver

These students worked systematically to determine a health disparity in minority populations, identify barriers, and designed a project to overcome those barriers. They linked together respected spokespersons in those populations, the Health Department, minority healthcare providers, and private companies willing to donate materials to their vaccination clinics. Their project successfully overcame the identified barriers and vaccinated over 180 at-risk individuals in those populations. As a result, a template for the project has been created, the MCHD has established new links with community representatives, and the project will be continued in the future, after these students are in college pursuing their own future goals as healthcare providers. This is a great example of teens, most of them members of minority populations themselves, creating a sustainable project that improves the health status of minority communities in Portland. They were successful by building capacity within the community by uniting stakeholders, instead of adding resources at additional cost.

Community Based Organization or Program Award:

MIKE (Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education) Program

MIKE Program offers unique, hands-on, project-based service learning curriculum that aligns with state and national standards for both health education and career-related learning skills. The program maintains best practices of youth development and public health promotion and has developed a mentor program that recruits, trains, and provides ongoing support and monitoring for our MIKE Program group mentors placed in schools and organizations that serve youth in need of healthy relationships with caring, responsible adults. They connect teenagers with various health occupations by integrating health professionals in training, such as medical students from OHSU, and practicing health care providers, such as medical doctors, nurses, and patient care technicians from dialysis clinics, as near-age mentors and content experts.

John Kitzhaber Policy Leadership Award:

Bill Bradbury, Secretary of State

Mr. Bradbury was part of a select group of individuals chosen to receive intensive training by Vice President Al Gore, environmental educators and a team of renowned scientists about issues surrounding global warming. "Bill is an outstanding example of the millions of Americans who have been energized by the call to action on the climate crisis," said Gore. "We are so pleased that he has made a serious commitment to this challenge to become part of this unprecedented grassroots effort." Mr. Bradbury has completed over 100 presentations all over Oregon discussing how individuals and businesses, schools, and other organizations can be a major part of the solution to the growing crisis of global warming. The Secretary of State promotes policy solutions to global warming that will improve our quality of life and enhance our future prosperity, as well as providing individuals and businesses with the inspiration they need to make a difference. In doing so, he has inspired numerous local governments to take action by setting goals and developing local action plans. In addition, the Secretary of State has been instrumental in developing Oregon's progressive climate strategies and goals. In large part due to Mr. Bradbury's policy influence, Oregon is a leader in demonstrating what is possible when elected officials care about public health and feel accountable for the public welfare. Because of Mr. Bradbury's personal and professional advocacy on climate change issues, Oregon and its residents stand as an example to the rest of the county and to the world.

Business/Corporation Award:

Medela, Inc

Medela has a long history of working with the Western States Contracting Alliance to offer their Pump-In-Style Original to WIC clients at competitive prices. This has put tens of thousands of breast pumps into the hands of women throughout the Western Region of the United States, who would otherwise not be able to express breast milk for their babies. Medela's commitment to all mothers was the driving force in making the The Pump In Style Advanced 2-Phase Expression available to WIC. The pump more closely mimics what the baby does by providing a stimulation phase and then an expression phase. The 2-Phase Expression technology of the Advanced extracts more milk in a shorter amount of time with significantly increased comfort for the mother. Medela, Inc. agreed that WIC clients deserved to have the same technology as everyone else and they were able to recommend that current pricing levels be honored. These business decisions demonstrate a tremendous commitment to women, infant nutrition, and the underserved.

Multnomah County Employee Award:

Jessica Guernsey Camargo

Jessica has a strong commitment to community and population based public health work. She works at all levels of the health promotion framework and supports others in learning and providing services in the same manner. Most recently, Jessica has worked on the development and implementation of the Pandemic Flu response. Utilizing the health promotion framework, her pan flu efforts have included work on a state, regional, and local policy development level as well as having a strong focus on community level education, training, and planning. She has utilized creative ways to engage the community such as providing free books to young children at community sites, working with the library to include a book on the subject as one of the "Everybody Reads" series, and working with OMSI to feature Dr. Oxman as a speaker in the Science Pub adult learning series. Her work has involved trainings for business, childcare providers, school districts, faith based organizations, she is currently coordinating the community connectors program which involves community liaisons in emergency preparedness responses and coordinates a small grant program for local ethnic based community based organizations involved in planning for emergencies.

Matthew Lashua

Matthew founded the County's response to National LGBT Health Awareness week through the development of the LGBTQ Meaningful Care Conference planning committee which has grown over the past three years to include 18 organizations that have put resources, staff and funding toward achieving LGBTQ health equity. This work has been an excellent example of how the County can partner with community organizations to accomplish common goals. Through Matthew's leadership the LGBT Meaningful Care Conference has not only become a place where providers can receive information on the best practices to effectively serve LGBTQ patients but it has been an opportunity for social service organizations to come together to strategize and effectively address community health. Matthew has worked diligently with the LGBTQ Meaningful Care Conference Planning Group to create an environment that holds collaboration and inclusion as crucial values in determining success.

Thank you to all our nominees and winners for their commitment to public health and unwavering support of the Multnomah County Health Department. Please join us on Thursday, April 10th from 11:00am to 12:00pm at the Multnomah Building, Boardroom to celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees! In conjunction with this year's theme, Climate Change: Our Health in the Balance, Secretary of State Bill Bradbury will be giving a presentation about the impact of climate change for Oregon from 10:00am – 10:45am.

Employees must receive their supervisor's approval if attending during work hours. For more information about the Public Health Heroes Celebration, please contact Kate at (503) 519-3084 or via e-mail at kate.yen@co.multnomah.or.us

Page updated April 02, 2008