COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

County Manager’s Office

 

DATE:

June 7, 2010

BOARD MEETING DATE:

June 29, 2010

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

David S. Boesch, County Manager

SUBJECT:

Employee of the Month for June 2010

 

RECOMMENDATION:

Honor Sandra Vivanco as Employee of the Month for June 2010 and authorize the President of the Board to sign the commendation.

 

BACKGROUND:

The Employee of the Month program was established in December 1984 to recognize and honor County employees who consistently demonstrate an outstanding level of performance.

 

Our Employee of the Month for June 2010 is Sandra Vivanco, a Health Benefits Analyst II, in the Health System

 

DISCUSSION:

Sandra Vivanco has been with the County for over fifteen years. Sandra currently works as a Community Health Advocate (CHA) in the Special Project Unit of the newly formed Health Coverage Unit of the Health System.

 

Sandra is the colleague whom team members want to work with when the office is buzzing with patients waiting to be seen. She always remains calm under pressure and always manages to find a way to assist everyone that needs to be seen, never failing to act with compassion, respect and a smile. She often says that she thrives when the office is full of patients, and her co-workers appreciate this quality. Sandra constantly reassures clients that she is there to assist them in navigating the process and this attribute serves as a role model for others on her team.

 

While out stationed as the CHA for the Children’s Health Initiative at Parkside and College Park Elementary Schools for four years, Sandra established great relationships with school staff. Sandra dealt with urgent cases involving uninsured students that needed immediate medical attention and ensured that those students were enrolled in a health coverage program. Sandra also ensured that the families also knew about the program that they were enrolled in and had the information they needed to utilize all of their benefits to promote the health of their children.

 

In July 2009, Sandra was assigned as one of the CHAs of the Special Project Units which was a consolidation of the Children’s Health Initiative and the San Mateo Medical Center CHAs. Sandra immediately jumped into her new role and within a matter of days she was working side by side with benefits analysts, nurses and social workers collecting all the necessary verifications and paperwork to process Medi-Cal applications for high cost patients. Although it was not easy for Sandra to leave the school enrollment sites she welcomed her new assignment with great enthusiasm. There is rarely a day that goes by where you do not see Sandra running the hallways of SMMC with Medi-Cal applications in her hand trying her best to ensure that her patients can put their worries about medical bills aside and instead concentrate on their health and well-being.

 

Beyond Sandra’s track record in serving clients and strengthening the Health Coverage Unit team, she is also a thoughtful and respectful contributor to solving issues. As we address the reality of doing more with less and finding processes that can be streamlined or completed more efficiently, Sandra offers concrete ideas and asks helpful questions that assist the team in tackling new challenges. As new efforts are taken and barriers encountered, Sandra shares her ideas willingly and listens well to the feedback of colleagues and supervisors. She invests in the processes needed to keep strengthening and guiding her team in understanding what is really happening at the ground level and with the public being served.

 

Sandra demonstrates that there is nothing impossible. She always finds ways to make something work and takes the extra steps to gets things done.

 

Approval of the Employee of the Month contributes to the Shared Vision 2025 outcome of Prosperous Community by recognizing employees that foster innovation and excellence in the services provided.

Our County is fortunate to have Sandra Vivanco as one of its outstanding employees.