Counselor presented national drug/alcohol abuse prevention award
Posted 5/2/2011
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by Chris Aguinaldo
Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Public Affairs
5/2/2011 - JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) -- An Airman assigned here received the Government Employees Insurance Company Military Service Award at a ceremony April 18 in Washington.
Tech. Sgt. Jeannie Washington was selected as the Air Force recipient of the award, which recognized service members from each branch, as well as the guard and Reserve, for their dedication to drug and alcohol abuse prevention, traffic safety and accident prevention, and fire safety and fire prevention.
"I felt honored and privileged," said Sergeant Washington, an awardee in the drug and alcohol abuse prevention category. "I'm just the face of this particular award. But there's a lot of hard work from our team here behind that success."
The recognition helps to highlight awareness about abuse and the numerous resources and people available to aid victims, said Sergeant Washington, who is the 15th Medical Group mental health flight chief.
"Hey, this is out there," Sergeant Washington said of the programs, "and it's safe for people come forward."
According to her award citation, Sergeant Washington enhanced the awareness of 9,000 community members by directing a partnership among five military installations, 10 Department of Defense helping agencies and a local school in orchestrating 23 events.
Sergeant Washington also wrote two news articles and managed 10 prevention booths in support of Red Ribbon Week and Alcohol/Child Abuse Awareness Month here.
Her efforts contributed to the base receiving a $950,000 federal grant to partner with state and local alcohol and drug abuse prevention agencies, resulting in a 60 percent decrease in underage drinking, according to the award citation.
As a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor through the Air Force Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Treatment program, Sergeant Washington said she appreciated the chance to meet other service members at the ceremony who are doing similar work in substance abuse prevention.
"I got to talk to them (and) learned new ways to do things," she said.
Sergeant Washington and the other recipients were awarded a plaque and a $2,500 honorarium. The recipients also received round-trip transportation and lodging.
GEICO chairman Tony Nicely presented the GEICO Military Service Awards.
"It is an honor and a real pleasure all these years for GEICO to work with the U.S. military branches of service to pay tribute to so many outstanding men and women," Mr. Nicely said. "These honorees are certainly persons of great value to their military and civilian communities, and we thank them for their service."
(Staff Sgt. Nathan Allen, 15th Wing Public Affairs, also contributed to this article.) |
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