Central Region PHN wins “CARE Award”

Martha Garcia, left, received a "CARE" Award fro KXKY Radio. She was nominated by Angie Durdiev, right.

Martha Garcia, Public Health Nurse (PHN) Supervisor for HHSA's Central Region Public Health Center received a “CARE Award” in December at a ceremony and luncheon at the Hotel del Coronado. The “CARE Awards” are sponsored by Radio Station KyXy 96.5 and Azusa Pacific University. The award is to acknowledge San Diego nurses for all their hard work and "TLC".  People are encouraged to nominate their favorite nurses and nine are selected from the hundreds of nominations.  Martha was nominated by fellow PHN, Angie Durdiev, PHN Supervisor at Central Region Public Health Center.

This is an excerpt of Angie’s nomination for Martha:

“Martha has worked as a Public Health Nurse for the County for 10 plus years.  She has served the residents of San Diego in the East, South and Central regions.  In her time with the county she has worn many hats.  As a Maternal Child Health field nurse working in the Healthy Infant Program, her job was to ensure that drug exposed infants and children received the resources and care they needed to become thriving healthy individuals.  She worked with substance abusing pregnant and parenting women, helping to ensure a better life for the client and her baby.

As the Epidemiology/Bioterrorism Public Health Nurse, she became an expert in disaster preparedness providing valuable training to frontline workers who were tasked with meeting the needs of the residents of San Diego in the event of a disaster.

Martha also served as a HealthLink Public Health Nurse, coordinating efforts between the community partners of South Bay to ensure school aged children received health related services to meet their needs.  Currently she serves as a Public Health Nurse Supervisor in the Central Region of San Diego.  She is a mentor to her staff and she continues to lead her peers as she works to develop protocols and standards for future public health nurses as they provide services to pregnant and parenting families all over San Diego.”

Here is a link for more info on the Care Awards: http://kyxy.radio.com/care-award