Healthcare Georgia Foundation announces 2018 Joseph D. Greene Community Service Award to six Georgia recipients
Five individuals and one collaborative are recognized for their volunteer service to advance the health and healthcare of Georgians

Atlanta, GA – April 10, 2018 – The 2018 recipients of the Joseph D. Greene Community Service Award were announced by Healthcare Georgia Foundation at Connections 2018: Pathways to Healthy and Equitable Communities on March 29, 2018.  Five individual recipients and one community collaborative in Georgia were recognized during an awards ceremony at the Foundation’s eighth statewide convening of nonprofit grantees, partners, and community leaders.

“We are honored to have the opportunity to recognize the selfless efforts of these often unsung local health heroes,” said Gary D. Nelson, PhD, president, Healthcare Georgia Foundation. “The impact of their passion, leadership, and commitment to improving the health of their communities is remarkable and their volunteer service inspires countless others to do the same.”

Individual Recipients:

Paige Havens
Volunteer Organization: Gwinnett Hospital System Foundation, Inc.
Lawrenceville, GA
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A twenty-year volunteer with the Gwinnett Hospital System Foundation, Inc., Paige Havens is Chair of the Women’s Advisory Council and Foundation board member. Her service at the Foundation has resulted in several achievements that have helped improve healthcare for residents in and outside of Gwinnett County, including funding for a dedicated Neonatal Intensive Care Unit ambulance and the nation’s only traveling testing and treatment and education facility dedicated to concussion care.

 

Karen Kinsell, MD
Volunteer Organization: Clay County Community Health Center
Fort Gaines, GA
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Karen Kinsell has been the only physician in Clay County Georgia for over a decade. As the founder and volunteer doctor at the Clay County Medical Center, Dr. Kinsell often works 10-hour days that includes occasional house calls to provide medical care to some of the state’s poorest residents with complex medical issues and social problems.

 

Dich Nguyen, MD
Volunteer Organization: Boat People SOS – Atlanta
Duluth, GA
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As the Vietnam War came to a close in 1975, Dr. Dich Nguyen chose to stay behind to care for patients who were unable to be evacuated.  After two years in a re-education camp, Dr. Nguyen came to the United States in 1991 to continue his medical training and move to Atlanta where, at 82, he practices medicine today. His volunteer service at Boat People SOS has helped Atlanta’s Vietnamese residents receive direct care and health education, improving the lives of over 2,000 patients and their families.

 

Tyrone Rachal
Volunteer Organization: CaringWorks, Inc.
Decatur, GA
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Tyrone Rachal has spent his professional career advocating for low-income communities and individuals with special needs. As president of Urban Key Capital Partners, Rachal is a driving force in the Atlanta real estate market with a strong commitment to public service. As a CaringWorks, Inc. board member, Rachal helped launch Comprehensive Treatment and Recovery Services (CTRS), a federally-funded program that help fill a huge gap in service delivery for Atlanta’s chronically homeless population.

 
William C. Warren, IV, MD
Volunteer Organization: The Good Samaritan Health Center
Atlanta, GA
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In 1998, Dr. William Warren walked away from a medical practice full of resources and insured patients to organize the nonprofit Good Samaritan Health Center that provides comprehensive, affordable healthcare to low-income, homeless, and uninsured individuals and families on Atlanta’s Westside. A great grandson of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, Dr. Warren leads a team of healthcare professionals at the Center with humility, vision, dedication, faith, and a passion for service to the city’s residents in need.

 

Collaborative Recipient:
Live Healthy Baldwin
Live Healthy Baldwin was organized by 2009 through the efforts of Jim Lidstone, EdD, Director of the Center for Health and Social issues at Georgia College in Milledgeville. Though its founding mission was to reduce childhood obesity, over the past nine years, the collaborative has grown its volunteer membership to create achievements in Baldwin County that include a complete streets policy with bicycle friendly designations; safe routes to school; farmers markets and community gardens; and physical activity programs for elementary school students.
View Recipient Video

 

About Joseph D. Greene 
A personal hero and mentor to many, Joseph D. Greene served on the board of several major organizations, including the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents. A native Georgian, Mr. Greene was the first African American elected to public office in McDuffie County and the first to serve on a number of community and state boards in an era when racial tensions were high and integration was in its early stages. As a founding Healthcare Georgia Foundation board member, Mr. Greene helped steward the organization from its inception in 1999 through his retirement from the board in 2006. In 2008, Healthcare Georgia Foundation dedicated its community service award program in his honor, naming it the Joseph D. Greene Community Service Award. 

 

About Healthcare Georgia Foundation
Healthcare Georgia Foundation is a statewide, private independent foundation. The Foundation’s mission is to advance the health of all Georgians and to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare for underserved individuals and communities. Through its strategic grantmaking, Healthcare Georgia Foundation supports organizations that drive positive change, promotes programs that improve health and healthcare among underserved individuals and communities, and connects people, partners and resources across Georgia. For more information, visit www.healthcarega.wpengine.com.

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