Two Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky health center staff – Margo Cohen, a Lead Clinician in Hawai’i, and Lolita Kinsey-Brown, an Indiana-based Area Services Director for ten health centers - went far above and beyond the norm throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. By serving patients at cost to themselves, sacrificing personal time, and even perpetually self-quarantining in order to be able to be there for patients, they took “care no matter what” to another level.
Cohen and Kinsey-Brown's dedication, hard work, and exceptional performance were recently recognized by Planned Parenthood Federation of America with Beacon Awards.
Special to Planned Parenthood, the Beacon Award is an honor bestowed upon one health center staff person per affiliate. The nominations took place pre-merger, which is why PPGNHAIK was able to have two people within the affiliate recognized.
The Beacon Award recognizes an individual who exemplifies serving the mission of Planned Parenthood, supporting colleagues and giving patients the best possible care. The 2020 award is especially meaningful, as the COVID-19 pandemic put great strain on health center staff. The “above and beyond” bar set for the award takes on new heights, when day-to-day work required a new level of stress management, perseverance, and problem-solving for everyone. All those who received the award this past year have outstandingly upheld Planned Parenthood’s mission and workplace values during the most trying of times.
Lolita Kinsey-Brown, an Area Services Director, successfully directed ten health centers throughout Indiana and Hawai’i, keeping the health centers stocked in PPE, keeping hundreds of staff abreast of the ever-changing CDC guidelines, and was constantly problem-solving for patients and staff to get the most people the most care.
Sharon Dudash, Vice President of Patient Services at PPGNHAIK, said, “We nominated Lolita because of her excellent calm leadership and management of a... crisis incident early-on in the pandemic that required her to work with a number of department leaders in a fast-moving situation that impacted both staff and patients.”
No PPGNHAIK health centers saw any outbreak of COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, but Dudash explained Kinsey-Brown had to act fast to prevent a situation in Indiana that could have caused an exposure. The health centers under Kinsey-Brown's direction stayed coronavirus-free thanks to her quick and forward-thinking work.
Dudash went on to explain, “We nominated Margo because she has gone above and beyond to maintain access for patients on both [Oahu and Maui]. Margo has been travelling back and forth from her home on Maui to Honolulu this entire pandemic, including during quarantine, which meant upon her return to Maui she frequently had to self-quarantine at home due to island travel restrictions.”
Indeed, Cohen self-quarantined throughout the pandemic to be able to fly between Hawai’ian islands, to provide much-needed, timely care to patients. During the height of the pandemic, Cohen flew an average of ten times a month.
Cohen said, “It has been an honor to be recognized with the Beacon Award... While many other health care organizations stopped services or severely restricted access due to COVID, our amazing leadership and staff stepped up despite some formidable hurdles. Our greatest responsibility is to the care and well-being of our patients... I have seen repeatedly the determination of staff to not just meet expectations but to exceed them. I am so proud to be a part of this great team.”
Dudash expressed that this year’s Beacon Award is especially meaningful as it highlights that during the COVID-19 pandemic, this recipient went above and beyond in service of the Planned Parenthood mission during a true crisis that impacted everybody.
By these standards, Lolita Kinsey-Brown and Margo Cohen’s work are the textbook definition of “care, no matter what.”
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Tags: Health Care Hero