NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan Nurse Is Named Sloan Public Service Award Recipient
Jocelyn C. Perez, RN, to receive $10,000 prize as part of the Fund for the City of New York's "Nobel Prize of City Government"
Jun 07, 2018
NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan today announced that Jocelyn C. Perez, RN, MA, senior associate director of nursing for Behavioral Health, will be one of six outstanding public servants honored with the Fund for the City of New York’s 45th annual Sloan Public Service Award. Ms. Perez is receiving the honor in recognition of her selfless dedication to patients and as a tribute to the nurturing care that she has provided to so many individuals for more than three decades.
Regarded as the Nobel Prize of city government, the Sloan Public Service Awards are presented annually by the Fund for the City of New York to civil servants from all levels and ranks of city government. The winners were selected for their exemplary job performance and tireless dedication to the public. Each will receive a $10,000 cash prize. This year’s award recipients are being honored at their individual workplaces and at an awards presentation ceremony to be held this evening at the Great Hall at Cooper Union.
“Jocelyn Perez is a truly outstanding nurse who has dedicated her professional career to improving the lives of so many men, women, and children with mental illness,” said Alina Moran, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan. “For over thirty years, she has helped some of our most vulnerable patients lead their healthiest lives by developing and expanding opportunities for them to help themselves and each other.”
“I believe in patient-centered care and that’s what I’m passionate about,” said Ms. Perez. “All my work is centered on improving the lives of psychiatric patients. All of us who work in mental health need to push the agenda to help make sure that we’re changing the culture of stereotyping psychiatric patients.”
“The Fund for the City of New York is honored to recognize these six outstanding civil servants who have helped make New York the greatest city in the world. This year’s honorees are distinguished by their outstanding performance, their commitment and responsiveness to public needs, their fearlessness in the face of adversity, and their dedication to putting the public interest first. For that, they are being recognized with an award that is the Nobel Prize of city government,” said Mary McCormick, president of the Fund for the City of New York. “To serve the public is the highest honor and recognizing the unsung heroes who make this city a better place is of the utmost importance.”
Jocelyn Perez spent her first 22 years in New York City government at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, starting as a staff nurse. In 2008, she left NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue as the associate executive director of nursing in Psychiatry and moved to NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan as its director of nursing in Psychiatry. There, Ms. Perez leads a group of more than 200 nursing staff in psychiatry inpatient, outpatient, and emergency services. Ms. Perez has been an innovator in improving patient experience, safety, and quality of care. At NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, she initiated the first inpatient Peer Counseling Program, wherein consumers of psychiatric care who completed training for Peer Counseling are employed as staff—a model that has been replicated in other city hospitals.
“My work focuses on helping staff understand that patients with psychiatric disorders can get better and lead normal lives,” Ms. Perez added. “Like any human being, they want to have a job, a sense of purpose, to have families, to belong and to be loved.”
The six award recipients were nominated by their colleagues, peers, and friends and selected from more than 250,000 eligible workers in the mayoral agencies, the Transit and Housing Authorities, NYC Health + Hospitals, the City University of New York, the district attorneys’ offices, and the public libraries.
The 2018 Sloan Award winners are:
- Jane Bedell, MD, assistant commissioner and medical director, Bronx Neighborhood Health Action Center, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
- Sandy Bryant-Townsend, executive director, Office of Legal Affairs-Fair Hearing Administration, NYC Human Resources Administration.
- Jocelyn C. Perez, RN, senior associate director of Nursing for Behavioral Health, NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan.
- David Piersante, director of eligibility, HIV/AIDS Services Administration, DSS/HRA Special Services, NYC Human Resources Administration.
- Edward Toth, director, Greenbelt Native Plant Center and Mid-Atlantic Regional Seed Bank, NYC Department of Parks.
- Annette Whyte, associate director, Vendor Management, Mayor’s Office of Contract Services.