Three county employees were recognized with the A. Heath Onthank Award for Merit, the highest honor awarded by the county to its employees at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, June 27. Maternal Child Health Compliance Nurse Alisa Brooks and Public Health Nurse Practitioner with the Homeless Health Care program Nathalie Washington were recognized for accomplishments of outstanding worth in advancing and improving public service in Fairfax County Government and Fairfax County Public Schools.

Demonstrating outstanding leadership and initiative, Alisa Brooks assisted in the coordination of the Care to Share Program and developed the Care to Share Toolkit dually addressing food waste in schools and childhood food insecurities in Fairfax County. Since its development, food rescue programs have expanded to schools across the county, with PTAs, students, school staff, parents, school nurses and school clubs all getting involved. As a result, hundreds of pounds of food are being redistributed to those in need, making a positive impact on the health of food-insecure individuals in our community.

Through exceptional collaboration with epidemiology, nonprofits, and the Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, Nathalie Washington created a more efficient COVID-19 screening and isolation protocol and monkeypox evaluation process for the Homeless Health Program. She led a team of nurse practitioners to provide 1,075 medical care visits, addressing over 1,500 critical health conditions and appropriately referring more than 1,300 individuals to higher levels of care and subspecialty evaluations. Through her dedication and direction, 132 vaccine clinics were successfully organized in locations including shelters and the streets, providing high quality, highly needed care in this vulnerable population.

Also recognized was Gillian Ethridge with the Department of Public Safety Communications.

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