Matt Beebe, Polly Boone, Sabrina Burress, Pamela Jackson, Miriam Kadhim, Crystal Nisley, Carl Street, Jr., + Virginia Telemental Health Initiative Team
Virginia Health Care Foundation
During its Cheers for Champions! event, the Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) welcomed state leaders to honor the hard work of behavioral health organizations and other health care safety net professionals throughout the Commonwealth for their expertise, success, and dedication to help uninsured and medically underserved Virginians obtain the health care they need.
VHCF and its partners dedicated significant resources and attention to increasing the availability of basic mental health services throughout the state over the past year, via VHCF’s three-pronged, behavioral health initiative, Brighter Days Ahead: Addressing Virginia’s Mental Health Crisis.
Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources John Littel introduced and recognized VHCF’s six Mental Health Champions, who went above and beyond to improve the mental health of their organizations and/or their patients/clients and communities.
Senator Barbara Favola presented the Excellence in Enrollment Award to an outstanding Medicaid/FAMIS outreach worker, who enrolled more than 8,000 eligible Virginians in Medicaid during the past 11 years and serves as a model and mentor to many.
VHCF’s You “Rx”ceptional Award was presented by Delegate Carrie Coyner to a prolific Medication Assistance Caseworker from the Orange County Free Clinic, who has helped more than 2,000 uninsured patients with chronic diseases fill 12,000+ prescriptions with a value of $17 million for free over the years.
Delegate Mark Sickles closed out the event by recognizing and thanking VHCF’s many financial supporters, including the Collis Warner Foundation, which gave VHCF $500,000 as a 3:1 Challenge Grant for VHCF’s Brighter Days Ahead initiative.
Contact: Debbie Oswalt at 804.828.5804 or doswalt@vhcf.org.