TITLES: Medical Director/Clinical Assistant Professor
ORGANIZATION: Novant Health New Hanover Medical Group-Autumn Hall/UNC School of Medicine
WHAT A NOMINATOR SAID: “Dr. Andres Afanador has shown a profound commitment to creating a welcoming and supportive environment for patients from diverse backgrounds. As a bilingual Colombian American physician trained in Florida and North Carolina, he is well-equipped to serve individuals from various cultural, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. His cultural literacy is integral to his patient care, especially for those whose first language is not English. Dr. Afanador, the only Spanish-speaking physician on-site, diligently bridges language barriers, ensuring clear communication and navigating the health care system with compassion and respect for his patients’ cultural norms.
Dr. Afanador’s dedication extends beyond individual patient care to broader community engagement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he played a crucial role in providing bilingual health information to the Spanish-speaking community. … His leadership further extended into community service as a founding vice chair of the New Hanover County Hispanic Latino Commission.”
– Edelmira Segovia, UNCW associate director of precollege programs
TITLE: Executive Director
ORGANIZATION: Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear
WHAT A NOMINATOR SAID: “Angela has been with Community Care of the Lower Cape Fear since its inception in 2003. She was promoted to executive director in April 2016.
With strong community relationships, she and her team have partnered to develop and implement multi-payer care management programs including ones for Medicaid, Medicare and uninsured populations.
With over 30 years of health care and public health experience and 15 years as a certified case manager, Angela and a heavily engaged board of community leaders have created an innovative team with proven results to improve health and generate cost savings.
Angela oversees the N.C. Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) with CCLCF as the network lead, partnering with 50 local human service organizations, prepaid health plans and care management entities. HOP is the nation’s first comprehensive program to test and evaluate the impact of providing nonmedical interventions related to food, housing, transportation and interpersonal safety to high-needs beneficiaries. …”
– Richard Berg, care navigator, Carolina Complete Health
TITLE: Health and Human Services Dean
ORGANIZATION: Cape Fear Community College
WHAT A NOMINATOR SAID: “As the dean of Health Sciences at Cape Fear Community College (CFCC), Mary Ellen has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and dedication to addressing the critical need for health care professionals in our community.
CFCC works with our community to identify and meet the urgent hiring needs of local employers. With a nursing shortage crippling our region, CFCC knew it needed to react quickly. (College) President Jim Morton challenged Mary Ellen to drastically increase the number of nurses that CFCC trains. Aside from the expected challenges of this task, some unexpected barriers presented themselves along the way.
Under Mary Ellen’s leadership, CFCC has more than doubled its output of qualified nurses and other healthcare professionals in recent years. ... She worked long hours, crossing institutional lines to forge partnerships with other organizations, ensuring that the necessary resources, support, and training were in place to meet this critical demand.”
– Logan Thompson, CFCC Foundation executive director
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