David Camp, NOSSCR Senior Political Advisor & General Counsel

In a year where federal workers have been subjected to chaos undermining careers and entire agencies, last week’s Service to the Citizen awards was the exact opposite.

Each year, the public servant award winners are honored at a gala in downtown Washington—this year was the Waldorf. The awards are generally for “exemplary public servants who excel in delivering impactful services that positively affect the lives of the public.” They honor the public’s need for “a 21st century experience and a government that works for them.” There are six award categories: government executive of the year, industry executive of the year, lifetime achievement, CX trailblazer, rising star of the year, and multiple categories where there are many winners. The categories for multiple winners include building a customer-focused building, delivering excellence in digital services, using innovation and data, using innovative technologies, and serving other government agencies. This volume of award categories produces a long list of annual winners, which manages to create an atmosphere of enthusiasm and excitement in a large ballroom of federal agency staff, their families, and coworkers (and me!).

This year highlighted the Social Security Administration in several ways. Commissioner Bisignano delivered the keynote address. He tossed aside his script and expressed admiration for the organizers of the event and the general theme of supporting government service. He told a personal story of respecting his family’s work in government, and his childhood dependence on Social Security benefits. SSA’s Dustin Brown (currently, head of Legislative Affairs) won the award “Lifetime Achievement for Delivering Service to the Citizens.” Dustin is well known throughout the federal government, having served at OMB through four administrations.

One of my heroes is Laura Walker—a Claims Specialist at the SSA Prescott Arizona District Office. She won the Rising Start of the Year award, and her acceptance speech did not leave a dry eye in the room. She told a moving story of meeting a beneficiary whose wife had become so severely injured that the family needed information on adjusting to government benefits and services in order to provide care. Laura reminded all of us of the power of compassionate customer service–and we all know how important it is to foster that approach in our frontline SSA offices. The Prescott Arizona SSA District (led by District Manager Michelle Felicetta) also received an award for building a customer-focused culture. They were joined by field office leadership from Colorado River Basin, Flagstaff, Show Low, and Cherry Hill, New York. Jeff Walsh, Program Manager for Digital Identity won for delivering excellence in digital services. SSA’s “Slam the Scam” team won too. SSA’s Office of Transformation Service Design Team and Office of Health Information Technology and Electronic Policy also won.

At a time when many of the best federal agency staff have been feeling unappreciated or like their careers have been threatened without justification–the approach of the awards gala was refreshingly the opposite. Great work was honored, as was focus on mission and honoring the oath to the Constitution.

I also met one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met–a physician who sat next to me. Dr. Rona Relova is a research scientist at the VA. Her title is a mile long, but she was only interested in one thing—finding out how to tell people about her breakthrough that could save all of us time, money, and the bad outcomes (and side effects) of trial and error with medications and dosing. Her program is called the Pharmacogenomics (PGx) Initiative, and it enables the use of an individual’s genetic make-up to identify which medication in a class of drugs will or will not work, with accurate guidance on the effective dose. She told me about the effect this simple genetic test is already having on veterans treated at 40 VA facilities, and her hope that someday agency heads and lawmakers could learn of how much money this will save Medicare and Medicaid—in addition to solving the problem most of us face—needing to change medications and doses until the “just right” is found. I had no idea this was possible, but her work has established that our genes contain a roadmap that can prevent medication guesses—along with a warning for some that entire classes of medications may not work (where particular care is warranted to avoid, for example, tuberculosis). Because I specialize in getting messages to heads of agencies, Senators, etc.—we’re already fast friends!