HONOLULU — The Hawai'i Department of Health today announced the recipients of the 2008 DOH Incentive Service Awards. This year's winners include a public health educator with the Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention System Branch, as employee of the year, a district health officer in the Hawai'i District Health Office as manger of the year, and the statewide school influenza immunization project team, as team of the Year.

"It is a privilege and a pleasure to recognize the efforts of these public health employees as they go about their daily mission of improving the health and wellness of Hawai'i's 'ohana," Health Director Dr. Chiyome Leinaala Fukino said in a news release.

"As role models for the Department of Health, they are making lives better through their ongoing commitment to improve the health status of those they serve," Fukino said in the news release.

Employee of the Year, Eric Tash, has been instrumental in building the injury prevention field and movement in Hawai'i. With his ability to leverage limited resources, Tash has enabled the Injury Prevention and Control Program to work effectively with multidisciplinary partners at the state, county, community and federal level to address the leading areas of injury in Hawai'i, according to th news release. Tash can be credited with milestones such as significant increases in child safety seat use; passage of some of the strongest firearm safety laws and traffic safety laws for children in the country; and the formation of seven statewide coalitions, including the Violence Prevention Consortium (aka Ending Violence), Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition and the Suicide Prevention Taskforce.

Manager of the Year, Acting District Health Officer, Aaron Ueno, was commended for building capacity within the Hawai'i District Health Office to respond to bioterrorism, disasters and pandemics by establishing, training and equipping the District Health Office emergency response teams. Recognizing the limited resources on the island and within the department, Ueno embraced the establishment of the Medical Reserve Corps that utilizes volunteers that are trained to respond to emergencies within their own communities. Ueno is also credited for bringing the Hawaii District Health Office Civil Defense Procedures up to date.

The DOH Team of the Year, Statewide School Influenza Immunization Project Team, implemented the 2007 Stop Flu at School Project. The project was a massive, multi-division undertaking which resulted in the successful immunization of over 60,000 kindergarten through middle school students against influenza. The Immunization Branch's role in the success of this project included planning for the vaccination clinics, supply procurement, coordinating the distribution of medical, administrative, and emergency supplies to over 350 clinic sites. This year the team aims to increase the number of vaccinations distributed at the school based flu clinics that begin this month and extends till December 2008.

The DOH Incentive Service Award winners, Tash, Ueno and the statewide School Influenza Immunization Project Team, will represent the Department of Health in the statewide competition on Oct. 17.