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Former-Medic Dedicated To Providing Health Care To Northern Nevada’s Poor And Uninsured Receives $120,000 Health Leadership Award
BOSTON – Michael Rodolico’s passion for health care was shaped by his experiences as a combat medic assigned with the U.S. Army Special Forces Civic Action Teams helping villagers in Southeast Asia. After returning from his military service and finishing his education on the GI Bill, he became director of the Emergency Medical Services Academy at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, reinvigorating a troubled program and creating only the second paramedic training program in the nation to pass federal accreditation on its first try.
In 1995, Rodolico was hired by Nevada’s Health Access Washoe County (HAWC) as its founding CEO with the mandate to provide medical care for all members of the community regardless of their ability to pay.
Launching his efforts in an empty building with a lone telephone on the floor, Rodolico built a community health center with 60,000 client visits every year. HAWC offers care to people with no health insurance or inadequate coverage in the adjacent cities of Reno and Sparks and in Washoe County. Eighty percent of those served are women and children and close to half are Latinos.
Once HAWC opened its doors, it was clear to Rodolico that there was a desperate need for dental care and so he opened the area’s first dental clinic, now providing nearly 18,000 dental visits every year. He went on to develop the area’s first women’s health program, first pediatric mental health clinic, a pharmacy, a diabetes service, and a free clinic for the homeless.
It is for his work with HAWC that Rodolico is being honored as one of 10 outstanding individuals from across America chosen to receive the 2006 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program award.
“I was homeless, destitute and ill,” said Evie Taylor, who represents the homeless on HAWC’s board of directors. “I can’t reiterate enough what a difference this group of people has made in helping me to rise above challenging life circumstances and have my dignity and worth restored because one man cared enough to take on the daunting task of this clinic from the ground up.”
“Dr. Rodolico is no stranger to taking risks,” said HAWC’s Andrea Brown. “When the need called to provide a dental facility for patients with no access to dental care, he took the risk. Together with his team, they not only added a successful dental facility but a second one. Our community has benefited from his ability to balance the need with the risk. This gentle man inspires me to do better.”
“Last summer’s devastating hurricanes brought into focus for all Americans the gaping holes in this country’s safety net,” said Catherine Dunham, Ed.D., Program Director, Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program. “It reinforced what we know to be true; that local leaders taking the initiative are really the first and best responders whether the issue is access to care or youth development in underserved areas.”
The program awards $1.2 million each year to health leaders who have surmounted personal and other obstacles to help Americans gain access to heath care and social services. Rodolico and this year’s other health leaders were honored at a June 21 event at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey. He will receive $105,000 to further the work of his program and a $15,000 personal award.
Rodolico was chosen from more than 300 people nominated this year. Since 1992, the program has distributed 140 awards in 47 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Those chosen are nominated by civic leaders, health professionals, government representatives and others inspired by their efforts to provide essential health services to their communities. This year’s award winners represent urban and rural areas of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, and the District of Columbia.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.
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