The St. Louis American Foundation is honoring seven outstanding professionals in the health care field as Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awardees on Friday, April 29 at the Frontenac Hilton.
Anthony Bass
For the past seven years, Anthony Bass has served as a medical social worker at SSM DePaul Health Center in Bridgeton. He also maintains a private practice counseling individuals and families, with more than 20 years of experience working in social work and mental health.
Bass volunteers with a number of community organizations, including the St. Louis Minority Health Coalition, the Self-Help Center, the 27th Ward Infant Mortality Group, as well as St. Louis County Probation and Parole. For the past six years, Bass has served on the boards of the state and local chapters of the Missouri Association of Social Welfare.
Misty Farr
Pharmacist Dr. Misty Collier Farr is a pharmacy manager at Walmart in Florissant. Previously she managed the pharmacy at its Chesterfield location and was a regional immunization champion, training pharmacists in implementing immunizations at Missouri Walmart locations.
Farr is a member of the Missouri Pharmacy Association, where she serves on both the Legislative and Professional Affairs committees, and a member of the Minority Women Pharmacist Association. She is on the Strategic Planning Committee of St. Louis College of Pharmacy.
Farr volunteers at the Missionaries of Charity and community health fairs. She is active in the Red Shoe Movement, a grassroots movement of women supporting women for career success.
Koach Frazier
Dr. Koach Baruch Frazier is the chief audiologist at the Center for Health and Speech, where he manages the audiology and school screening programs. Previously, Frazier worked in Cape Girardeau, where he helped develop the sedated auditory brainstem response program for the region.
For the past several years, Frazier has managed the Give Kids a Smile audiology clinic in St. Louis, where young people get their hearing screened and earwax removed. He serves on the boards of the Missouri GSA Network and Central Reform Congregation, is currently a cohort leader of the Amir Cultivating Justice STL Project, and is part of the 14th cohort of the Selah Leadership Program.
Kena Gray
Kena Gray is operations director at Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation (SIHF), where she oversees healthcare centers in the River Bend area and serves as health center manager at Bethalto Health Center. Previously, she managed Fairmont City Health Center and Washington Park Health Center.
Gray spearheaded the SIHF Manager Leadership Roundtable to direct training and educational opportunities for site managers at its 30 centers. Additionally, Gray helped lead the organization’s Cultural Competency Initiative to embrace diversity among staff and patients.
Gray is on the board of the Illinois Center for Autism, and is a member of the St. Louis University School of Public Health Networking Council, the University of Illinois Black Alumni Council and the Illini Union Alumni Society.
Kendra Holmes
Kendra Holmes is vice president and chief operating officer for Affinia Healthcare. Affinia (formerly Grace Hill Health Centers) consists of four federally qualified health centers that provide primary and preventive care to St. Louis residents.
Holmes oversees radiology, laboratory, nursing services, security, WIC, and Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) initiatives. She serves as director of pharmacy services and directs managed care incentive programs. She spearheaded the implementation of Affinia’s moderate complexity lab in late 2014. The lab processes over 15,000 samples monthly.Â
She began her career at then Grace Hill as a staff pharmacist before a series of promotions to her current position.
Holmes serves on the St. Louis College of Pharmacy Board of Trustees.
Jane Ann McWilliams-Sykes, RN
Jane Ann McWilliams-Sykes is a nurse at Dewey International Studies School, a small an Saint Louis Public School with a diverse student population that speaks more than 40 languages. For some of the students, McWilliams-Sykes is the only health professional they have seen and as such, she does everything she can to keep students healthy and in class.
To promote student health and wellness, Sykes partners with community organizations to provide onsite dental care, flu shot clinics and vision screenings.
McWilliams-Sykes is the president of both the NEA-St. Louis and the St. Louis Nurses Association and a board member of the Missouri School Nurses Association.
Michelle O’Kain
Michelle O’Kain serves as a clinical nurse manager at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in two areas: for Centralized Telemetry Monitoring (CTM) and the Cardiac Rapid Evaluation Unit (CREU), which is a step down in emergency care from the Intensive Care Unit.
CTM monitors patients at its Barnes-Jewish North, Barnes-Jewish South and Barnes-Jewish West County locations, where she manages registered nurses, monitor technicians and other staff. At CREU, O’Kain manages staff who are specially trained in EKG interpretation, IV medication management, and personnel certified in Basic Life Support and Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support.
O’Kain is also responsible for the budget, patient outcomes, and Patient Satisfaction Scores.
She began her career in nursing in 1983.
Tickets for the 16th Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards Luncheon on Friday, April 29 at the Frontenac Hilton are $750 per table for VIP/Corporate seating and $50 each/$500 table for Individual seating. To order tickets, call 314-533-8000 or visit www.stlamerican.com.
