Local heros recognized during national rural health day

Thursday, November 16 was National Rural Health Day. MHA hosted an event where our rural health care heroes were recognized by California State Assemblymember Jim Wood. Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams also was in attendance. Jim Wood presented a certificate of recognition to the following community members. Congratulations to RCMS and our 8 team members.
 
RCMS:

• Maryann Watts – for her work on COVID and flu vaccine clinics. Maryann served a vital role during the pandemic by giving people the resources they needed to reduce the spread of COVID in the community.  
• Afsoon Foorohar – for being an outstanding and caring provider that understands the importance of collaboration and teamwork. 
• Barb Brittell – for being an outstanding and caring provider and for her years of unwavering commitment to delivering quality urgent care services to the community. 
• Carolyn Hand – for her tireless efforts helping individuals experiencing addiction by delivering outstanding person-centered care and for advocating for vulnerable populations.
• Lois Falk – for her long-term care that she has given to our community members. Lois has been dedicated to delivering quality services to our community for decades. She demonstrates compassion and care for patients at their most vulnerable times through the Home Health program. 
• Jessi Maness – for her commitment to helping those with addiction issues. Jessi's interest in helping people with their mental health through compassion and understanding is stellar. She goes above and beyond the call of duty by coordinating multi-agency group meetings to improve communication and the delivery of services. She supports Mendonoma Health's Peer Recovery Support groups by periodically implementing group therapy strategies during recovery meetings. 
• Dawn McQuarrie – for all the behind the scenes work that help everyone to provide care to our community. Dawn's value is unmeasurable. She ensures that the administrative side of healthcare is addressed, including risk and compliance, grant writing, outreach, development, and more, is complete so that medical providers can show up to serve patients. This work happens behind the scenes but is the backbone of a clinical practice. 
• Liz Santana – Liz is an excellent medical assistant that truly cares for every patient that she sees. She works collaboratively to ensure patients have what they need to improve their health and approaches her work with positivity and kindness. 

 
CLSD:

• Dave Crowl – for his leadership to the CLSD team. Additionally, Dave has played a huge role in bolstering collaboration between local organizations. He is dedicated to improving our local health care delivery system and makes decisions based on his knowledge of prevention strategies that improve health outcomes. 
• Chris Ottoloni – for his innovations and willingness to do what is needed for our community. Chris is also a key player in the development of the community's first mobile health clinic. 
• Bronwyn Golly – Bronwyn was raised in the community and came back after pursuing education to become a paramedic. She has served the community for more than a decade as both a paramedic and firefighter. She delivers care with compassion at the center of her work. She understands the importance of collaboration and embraces it at every opportunity. 

 
MHA:

• Heather Regelbrugge – for her unwavering commitment to our community and willingness to help during any crisis that presents itself in people's lives. She has been at the core of program development and implementation at MHA since its launch in 2017.
  
• Janis Sites – for all the behind scenes work that help everyone provide services to our community Janis is the heartbeat of MHA, anticipating all of the administrative and programmatic needs of the organization, which is what helps the organization run smoothly. Janis has been with MHA since 2017 and has played an instrumental role in its development and sustainability. 
  
• Stephanie Chapman – for her unwavering commitment to our community and willingness to help in any crisis that presents itself in people's lives. As the provider of bilingual services at MHA, she is the case manager for a third of the clients served at MHA. 
  
• Micheline White – for all that you have done to make MHA what it is today and for bringing a mobile clinic to our community. Micheline’s dedication to improving access to resources in the community, her dedication to creative solutions and for not being afraid of taking on the hard work to get things done. 
  
• Leslie Tittle – Leslie is a shining star in our community. She is the board chair of MHA, is a board member for CLSD, and works hard to ensure Project Santa is provided during the holidays for local families in need. Her experience as a healthcare professional has contributed to multiple projects in the community. She was on the committee that helped develop and launch MHA and always keeps the community at the center of decision-making for strategic plans and the delivery of programs.

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