Feds garner public service awards

Last October, 57 percent of Americans said they didn't trust government. Maybe they should have attended Monday's federal Breakfast of Champions.

Three federal programs received awards for public service excellence during the breakfast, which kicked off Public Service Recognition Week.

The awards, sponsored by Public Employees Roundtable, a coalition of employee organizations, recognize groups that demonstrate the importance of bringing better services to more people in more creative ways with less of the public's tax dollar. Seven programs were chosen from 200 nominations worldwide.

The federal level winners were the New York/New Jersey Veterans Integrated Service Network, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow's Immigrant Visa Division and the Third Combat Communications Group at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

"We look for public employees who go beyond the call of duty, for programs which can serve as role models for other government agencies," said awards committee chairman Joe Maas.

The New York/New Jersey Veteran's Integrated Service Network is a consortium of eight VA medical centers, in partnership with state, city and private sector programs, which work to provide benefits to homeless veterans.

The consortium uses posters, billboards, radio announcements and a 24-hour help line to reach out to homeless vets. Shuttle vans provide free transit to treatment programs and medical care. The "Eagle One" mobile medical clinic provides street outreach, immunizations, health screenings, crisis intervention and counseling.

VA estimates that there may be as many as 12,000 homeless veterans in New York City, about one-third of the total number of homeless adults in the city. During fiscal year 1997, outreach efforts by the Veterans Integrated Service Network reached 3,194 veterans.

"VA has made a commitment to excellence in every aspect of health care. Helping homeless veterans is one of our highest priorities," said Kenneth W. Kizer, the VA's Under Secretary for Health.

The visa division of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was recognized for establishing and maintaining an outstanding standard of service to thousands of American citizens and their newly adopted Russian orphans.

Despite a heavy workload since the 1991 breakup of the USSR, the embassy has a "no appointment" policy and accepts and completes every adoption case that arrives by 11 a.m.

With hopes of soothing anxious customers, the staff of 16 has added little touches to their office like a soda machine that dispenses fruit juice, Babar posters on the walls and a diaper changing station. The staff has also donated toys, story books and coloring books to help the children through what is sometimes a long wait.

Because of the time change between Russia and the U.S., employees often have to place phone calls from home to INS offices in the U.S. at night or on holidays or weekends. The payoff: placing children in loving homes.

Tinker Air Force Base's Third Combat Communications Group, known as the "Third Herd," was recognized for community service. The unit volunteers time, manpower and equipment to a variety of causes in and around Oklahoma City, Okla. One of the first on the scene to provide immediate disaster relief in the wake of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building, the "Third Herd" provided generators, decontamination facilities, lights, heaters and trucks.

The group also provides annual support to the Oklahoma State Summer Games, charters a local Boy Scout troop and donated more than 500 pints of blood to the Oklahoma Blood Institute in 1997. From January 1996 to December 1997, the group dedicated more than 13,000 hours to planning and executing community projects.

"It's great to win an award because you excelled at doing what you are expected to do. However, it's even more rewarding to be recognized because you went above and beyond what was expected," said "Third Herd" commander Col. David Kovach.

State and local award winners were: New York State's NEW Civil Service, the Orange County Florida Health and Community Services Division, the Richmond, Va., Fire Department and the Los Angeles County Municipal Court Consolidated Criminal History Reporting System.