Celebrating our 2018 "Champions for Change" award winners

Every September, we celebrate local champions dedicated to making Hamilton County healthier and safer for moms, dads and babies. Here are our 2018 “Champions for Change” winners:

(Pictured left to right: Kristi Williams, Sydney Battle, Angela Nowden, Dr. Elbert Nelson, Lavenia Jones, Commissioner Chris Monzel, Krista Sweeney, Commissioner Todd Portune, Emily Lee; Not present: Dr. John Sullivan)

Champion for Knowledge: Kristi Williams, MSW, LSW Kristi Williams is closing the health gap for thousands of individuals in greater Cincinnati. As a community health liaison with CareSource, she helps clients secure medical care, resources and information to support healthy lifestyles. But, her own personal history drives her to help others well beyond her professional endeavors. The obstacles she has faced in her life have inspired her to reach out to and support those dealing with teen pregnancy, discrimination and more. Kristi volunteers as a guest speaker, advisor and mentor with the YMCA Black and Latino Achievers program and mentors young women involved in the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative.Champion for Equity: Sydney Battle, MPH Black women are 2-4 times more likely to experience infant loss as white women. As the Ohio Equity Institute Coordinator at Hamilton County Public Health, Sydney Battle brings together a diverse group of partners to address this disparity in two local communities: the west side neighborhoods of North and South Fairmount, Millvale and Camp Washington and the city of Forest Park. Notably, she developed a peer advocate program that engages and trains community members to be agents of change in their own neighborhoods. Sydney also supported the implementation of an evidence-informed reproductive life curriculum in select Cincinnati Public School high schools.Social Support Champion: Angela Nowden, CHW Angela Nowden is a community health worker with Crossroad Health Center. In this role, she walks alongside women during pregnancy, connecting them to the resources they need to have their healthiest pregnancies. Not only does she serve women in community settings, she’s a critical member of her clients’ prenatal care team. Her passion for health extends beyond her typical duties and has led her to create a crockpot cooking class, in which clients learn how to cook healthy, simple meals. Every client receives a brand new crockpot to apply their learnings at home.Champion for Better Care: John Sullivan, MD Dr. John Sullivan is a doctor in the Obstetric and Gynecology Department at TriHealth’s Bethesda North Hospital. Nominated by one of his patients, Dr. Sullivan is known as an efficient and thorough doctor that puts patients at ease, listens to their concerns, and genuinely cares for them. He credits growing up with three sisters for his ability to connect with patients. Understanding patients behind their medical chart is an essential focus of his practice - a practice that has become less common within the healthcare industry.Champion for Smokefree Women: Krista Sweeney, CNM Nearly 10% of women in Hamilton County report smoking during their pregnancy. Krista Sweeney wants to see this go down. As a certified nurse midwife with UC Health, she leads smoking cessation efforts in community prenatal care centers. This involves implementing the evidence-based 5A’s of smoking cessation intervention with all patients who smoke. She recently graduated from “ImpactU”, a quality improvement course through Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, with the goal of introducing quality improvement science into healthcare settings.Safe Sleep Champion: Emily Lee, BS, CPST Emily Lee is a critical partner in Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center’s safe sleep efforts. In just two years, Emily has facilitated the distribution of more than 250 portable cribs to families receiving care within the hospital. While Cincinnati Children’s smallest patients have safe cribs to sleep in, visiting siblings, who are often breastfeeding, are forced to bed-share with their mother. Bed-sharing accounts for nearly half of all infant sleep-related deaths in Hamilton County. Through Emily’s partnership and leadership, she secured funding and worked with hospital leaders to develop a supply and distribution system to equip visiting families with needed cribs. This is the first such program to be launched in a hospital in greater Cincinnati – and possibly the entire country.This year, we had the special pleasure of presenting Dr. Elbert Nelson with our Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Elbert Nelson has championed maternal and infant health in Cincinnati his entire career. He received his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville and completed his residency at University Hospital in Cincinnati. Dr. Nelson serves as the Residency Director and Division Chief of OB/GYN at The Christ Hospital. Under his leadership, Christ Hospital has compassionately cared for thousands of women and delivered thousands of healthy, thriving babies over the years.Congrats to our winners!