Dear OCR,
I would like to share with the OCR Team that after 20 years of public service I have decided to retire from the federal government and return to the private practice of law. My retirement will be effective on July 31, 2010.
Many of you know that I started my federal service in the Air Force. What you probably don't know is that this was in 1978, as a Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadet on my graduation from high school. Since that time, I have been blessed to serve our country in many different capacities and places, both as a military service member and as a federal civil servant. Always with passion and pride. Always learning and growing. OCR is no exception.
But for everything, there is a season. For me, this new season and journey begins next month on my 50th birthday when I will enthusiastically embark on a new career venture in the private sector. I share this with you because I want you to know that this next chapter in my life is truly a door opening. With my federal retirement and starting a business, I will achieve my long time goal of optimal work-family life balance on my own terms. For this entrepreneurial opportunity at this point in my life, I am truly grateful, energized, and joyful.
I would like to take this opportunity to extend a heartfelt thank you for the outstanding support and dedication to civil rights that I've experienced and witnessed here in OCR for 3-1/2 years. As I reflect on our time together in OCR, I am most proud of the followingmajor accomplishments – we have:
· Enforced civil rights compliance through settlements agreements and correction action secured in over 20 cases, including five with statewide impact, which we highlight on OCR’s website and routinely publicize through HHS press releases;
· Revised the Case Resolution Manual for Civil Rights Investigations, providing staff with a comprehensive, interactive enforcement guide and accessible desktop resource, answering OCR’s most thorny policy and procedural questions;
· Entered into civil rights agreements with 26 major healthcare corporations to establish model civil rights policies and practices; these corporations own and operate over 3,000 healthcare facilities nationwide and serve over 7.2 million patients annually, including hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, hospice, and home health centers;
· Developed, in partnership with ACF, a first-ever comprehensive federal curriculum on MEPA and Title VI, to train all 50 state offices providing services to children needing adoption and foster care, on their legal obligations to ensure that placements of children occur without delay caused by impermissible considerations of race;
· Advanced the integration of considerations for persons with limited English proficiency, persons with disabilities, and persons from diverse cultural origins in Departmental and Interagency emergency planning, preparedness and response, bringing OCR to the table in the full Federal-State-Local dialogue post Katrina;
· Worked in collaboration with the American Hospital Association, 17 state hospital associations, and The Joint Commission to provide education and technical assistance to member hospitals and JC surveyors to implement best practices; and to develop JC accreditation standards, implementation guidance, and a training video on Improving Patient-Provider Communication published on You Tube – to enhance effective communication in hospital settings for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing, or who have limited English proficiency; and
· Created, in collaboration with Stanford University Medical School, a first-of-its-kind, scenario-based Title VI medical school course: “Stopping Discrimination Before it Starts: The Impact of Civil Rights Laws on Healthcare Disparities,” which has been accepted for publication in the American Association of Medical Colleges MedEdPortal, a web-based tool that facilitates the exchange of high-quality, peer reviewed education materials to medical school schools nationwide.