Dee Dee Chewning · Caritas Service Award
The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine will present its Caritas Service Award to Dee Dee Chewning RN, SNP, NCSN of Lexington, South Carolina. The Caritas Service Award is given every four years to an individual who demonstrates generosity, untiring service, joyful witness of the love of God, and a commitment to the ministries of the Sisters of Charity in health care, social services, pastoral ministry, or education.
In 1992, Ms. Chewning became the first director of a program established by Providence Hospital that was then known as “Seeing is Achieving.” The program was created out of concern for children who had no insurance and no way to pay for eye exams and glasses. She stayed at the helm for 13 years, working tirelessly for children living in the Midlands of South Carolina as the program grew to become Health Reach and now Healthy Learners, which is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System.
After retirement in 2005, Ms. Chewning joined the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina Board of Trustees, serving nine years on various committees and eventually serving as board chair. She remains on the foundation’s program committee.
The award will be presented at the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine’s annual Founder’s Day celebration in Richfield, Ohio.
Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Foundation (Cleveland, OH)
Contact: Langley Shealy
Phone: 803.254.0230
Email: lshealy@sistersofcharitysc.com
The Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center · National Center Award for Excellence
The Catskill Hudson Area Health Education Center (CHAHEC), a program conceptualized by the Foundation for Community Health, has been awarded the high honor of the National Center Award for Excellence in the category of Health Careers Recruitment for Scrubs Club: Pathways to Health Careers.
Scrubs Club is an activity-based, health career exploration program designed to enhance high school students’ knowledge of a broad array of health occupations through interactive programs, hands-on activities, and meaningful field trips. The curriculum encourages students to consider health careers.
The Scrubs Club program was conceptualized and initiated by Gertrude O’Sullivan, Director of Communications and Special Programs at the Foundation for Community Health, in 2011 by spearheading a collaborative effort to design a customized health care career program that would benefit youth in the foundation’s service area in northeast Dutchess and southeast Columbia Counties in New York and northwest Litchfield County in Connecticut. The program was then developed and released in 2013.
This honor was presented at the annual conference of the National Area Health Education Center Organization in Washington, DC, which represents a network of more than 300 AHEC program offices and centers that serve over 85 percent of counties in the United States.
Foundation for Community Health (Sharon, CT)
Contact: Gertrude O’Sullivan
Phone: 860.364.5157