Nurses, a pediatrician, health administrators and a civil rights pioneer were honored for exemplary work in health care at the St. Louis American Foundation’s 12th annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon held Saturday, May 5 at the Frontenac Hilton.
Sister Mary Antona Ebo, retired Franciscan Sisters of Mary, was honored as the Lifetime Achiever in Health Care.
“We are to be a sign to the rest of the world,” Ebo said. “Whether we are in a synagogue, a mosque or a temple, whatever you want to name it – be out there on the street with our sisters and brothers who have needs.”
In 1967, Ebo became the first African-American woman religious executive director of a Catholic U.S. hospital – St. Clare’s Hospital in Baraboo, Wisconsin. For two years she served as executive director of the Wisconsin Conference of Catholic Hospitals.
Ebo received nursing training at the St. Mary’s Infirmary School for Nursing for Negroes in St. Louis and served as director of Medical Records at St. Mary’s Infirmary. She eventually made St. Louis her home.
She was one of six and the only African-American nun who marched for voting rights on March 10, 1965 following “Bloody Sunday” in Selma, Alabama during the second attempt to cross the Edmund Pettis Bridge.
“It’s sad to think that 45 years later, we are talking about practically the very same thing all over again, only it includes a lot more people,” Ebo said of voter rights.
“The difference is that it’s not just African Americans. It does hit us the worst, but it includes the elderly, who can’t get out and get identification for voting rights; it includes students. It’s suppressing the rights of people who want to vote.”
Father’s daughter
This year’s Stellar Performer in Health Care Alison C. Nash, M.D. comes from a family of well-known and highly regarded physicians dedicated to improving health in St. Louis. Nash, a pediatrician, also recently completed a two year term as president of medical staff at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. She and her father have practiced medicine in the North St. Louis community at 3737 N. Kingshighway since 1965.
“All the families have trust in what we provide, and I do not take that lightly,” Nash said.
She described her aunt, Dr. Helen Nash, and her father, Dr. Homer Nash, as “the most perfect role models and mentors one could ask for.”
“Although I had excellence training in pediatrics, what I learned about the practice of pediatrics, I learned from my father,” Nash said, during her tearful award acceptance. “During the 20 years we worked together, those have been the best years of my life, Dad.”
‘Our people’
The St. Louis Integrated Health Network was honored as Health Care Advocacy Organization of the Year.
CEO Bethany Johnson-Javois, who accepted the award, said during the past 10 years of its partnerships, the IHN has organized a regional response to care coordination across hospitals and health centers; collected and integrated data for St. Louis in preparation for local and state health information exchange; and introduced nearly 4,000 individuals and families, primarily uninsured or on Medicaid, to a medical home.
“In the work that we do, we collectively strive to ensure that the health care system is responsive and coordinated to deliver quality services in the community,” Johnson-Javois said. “We have often been called ‘these people,’ or ‘those people,’ but we have the privilege of calling them ‘our people.’”
‘Passionate about service’
Dwayne Butler, president and CEO of Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers, was named Health Care Administrator of the Year. In the four years, he has been at People’s, Butler said probably one of its greatest accomplishments was bringing the behavioral health services of Hopewell Center into the People’s family of services.
“It allows us to really begin to integrate behavior health services into our medical services, and we know that in underserved communities, behavioral health has been woefully ignored,” he said.
Butler said he was humbled to receive such an honor so early in his medical services career. He came to People’s after a career in investment banking.
“While the award bears my name, it certainly cannot be achieved by one person,” Butler said. “I have been blessed to be surrounded by people who are passionate about service to the community.”
Eight honorees
Eight honorees received 2012 Excellence in Health Care Awards: Ketly Angoma, RN, BSN, clinical support nurse at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center; Cheryl Boone, RN, BSN, MA, interim director of Surgical Services at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center; Sheila R. Grigsby, MSN(R), RN, MPH, assistant professor of Nursing at the University of Missouri St. Louis; Dinah Hayes, PT, DPT,. MHA, director of Therapy Services at St. Luke’s Hospital; Rosetta Keeton, MHA, manager of community and volunteer services at St. Louis ConnectCare; Brandii Mayes, MPH, health equity program manager for the St. Louis Dept. of Health; Constance Williams, RN, BSN, school nurse at Soldan International Studies High School; and Bonnie Woods, BSN, MA, LNC, manager of Mental Health Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and interim manager of Barnes-Jewish Extended Care.
Major sponsors of the 2012 Health Salute include SSM Health Care, St. Louis College of Pharmacy, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University.
