Five 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, Oct. 5.
The award honors the memory of Colonel A. Heath Onthank, the first chairman of the Fairfax County Civil Service Commission (1957-1962) and guiding force of the county’s career merit system. The Onthank Award recognizes accomplishments of outstanding worth by merit system county employees and some eligible school system employee.
Honorees are:
Colin Brody, Health Department - As public health emergency management assistant coordinator, Brody helped coordinate the Health Department’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as liaison officer to government and community stakeholders and as primary mass vaccination campaign coordinator, overseeing the administration of 1.4 million vaccinations. Brody offered lifesaving, accurate and timely information, in a role that required him to be available 24/7 for more than a year. His tireless work undoubtedly saved lives.
Emma Gutzler, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services – Gutzler won two significant financial awards for Fairfax County and held a successful event dedicated both to improving the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness and improving water quality. Operation Stream Shield employs homeless residents to remove litter and invasive plants from county streams and stream valleys. Gutzler’s event raised $2,000, and through her leadership and guidance the county received a $4 million Stormwater Local Assistance Fund grant, the maximum amount awarded.
Shannon McKeon, Health Department - McKeon successfully led the Logistics Section of the Health Department’s COVID-19 response in 2020. This role is known as one of the most challenging and demanding in incident management. The demands during this 18-month response are unimaginable by any except those who worked tirelessly seven days a week for the duration of the response. McKeon identified solutions, developed tools and led her team through rigorous, stressful work with fun, positivity, camaraderie and creativity.
Foram Shah, Department of Family Services - Shah demonstrated exceptional leadership during the pandemic as part of the Public Assistance and Employment Services Division of the Department of Family Services. From anticipating and addressing the remote work needs of her division in the early days of the pandemic to ushering in new technology including creating a tool to track public assistance request trends, Shah took initiative, showed leadership and was devoted and persistent in developing solutions to ensure that the division’s employees didn’t miss a beat in serving members of the community in desperate need of support.
Laura Yager, Sheriff’s Office - Yager identified the need for a Medication Assisted Treatment program to assist offenders with opioid use disorder through their withdrawal phase while incarcerated and reduce the risk of overdose and re-offense upon release. Through her vision and leadership, including securing grants, attending and providing trainings, updating standard operating procedures and more, the Sheriff’s Office has implemented a program that is already yielding early signs of success, with several examples of positive outcomes for participants.