SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Health Care and Rehabilitation Services (HCRS), southeastern Vermont’s non-profit community mental health agency, announced today the year-end awards for many of their 500+ employees. These awards, including 60 awards for years of service along with numerous other recognitions, were presented during the agency’s annual meeting held in November. Service awards were presented to:
25 Year Recipients: Christopher Houston, Lisa Lambert, Pamela Lysitt, Linda Simoneaux, and Kathleen Tyler.
20 Year Recipients: Dylan Devlin, Lesa Hinkley, Tammy Maberry, Tina Rushton, and Warren Sergeant.
15 Year Recipients: Lydia Barnes, Sally Blair, Christine Boothby, Michael Carrier, Sherrill Ellinger, Becky Gilbert, Sharon Haumann, Korinne McManus, and Mark Young.
10 Year Recipients: Richard Bauer, Jean Bolaski, Judith Dickerman-Nelson, Amanda Fairbanks, Jolene Lane, Eryn Lockerby, Jonathan Mattoon, Jodi Merlin, Caitlin Miller, Donna Nestle, Lisa Pachla, Warren Richardson, Jessica Robinson, Nancy Schaefer, Christi White, and Richard Wrase.
5 Year Recipients: Vicki Barnes, Mary Bene, Kelly Brown, Julia Burakian, Heather Cloud, Tracey Deshane, Martin Gawron, Rachel Gray, Ryan Hayward, Bambi Howe, Allison Jillson, Grace Jones, Kayla Knight, Renee Kondos, Craig Mills, Tegan Nicholas, Nakina Sammel, Matthew Schibley, Jairod Shoemaker, William Simoneau, Jennifer Smith, Bruce Tamarin, Courtney Veuthey, Karen Whitney, and Heather Wilcoxon.
The above service awards account for a combined total of 645 years of service. The agency also recognized three retirees from the past year: Ralph Jacobs, Elaine Pierce, and Jayne Stout.
Two staff received special recognition: Nicole Pelletier who was recognized as one of Vermont’s Rising Stars by Vermont Business Magazine, and Kait Skogstad for managing the agency’s staff Covid line for the past two and a half years.
Lastly, HCRS handed out five Encore Awards. These awards are part of the agency’s staff recognition program, which allows any staff member to recognize a colleague at any time. These written submissions are reviewed by a staff committee, which selects quarterly and annual award winners. The winners of HCRS’ 2022 Encore Awards were Khalila Cliché, Curtis Fields, Shannon Ketch, Tegan Nicholas, and Karen Whitney.
George Karabakakis, Ph.D., HCRS CEO, said, “We have an incredible team at HCRS, and it is an honor to be able to recognize so many of them during our annual meeting. We can’t say it enough: we value their dedication, support, and compassion, as they work to meet the needs of our communities.”