Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Paula Macomber | Lt. Col. Catherine Grush accepts the Spirit of Unity Award from the University of...... read more read more
Lt. Col. Catherine Grush, 152nd Mission Support Group commander, accepted the Spirit of Unity Award at the University of Nevada Reno’s School of Public Health hooding ceremony May 13, 2022. The Spirit of Unity award recognizes an agency in the community that builds bridges to public health. Grush was the Deputy of Joint Staff Operations in charge of all domestic operations for the Military Department for the State of Nevada, located in the Joint Operations Center in Carson City. There, she coordinated federal, state, county and local requests to ensure emergent needs were met and also accomplished planning for the long-term requirements of supporting operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our School of Public Health is committed to providing high-quality education and research opportunities to public health students,” said Dr. Muge Akpinar- Elci, Dean of the School of Public Health. “The COVID-19 pandemic showed the value of partnership between different organizations to create a more equitable and inclusive world. Congratulations to the Nevada National Guard! On behalf of the School of Public Health, I would like to thank you for your dedication to our school and community.”
More than 1,400 guardsmen of the Nevada National Guard were activated for 715 days to provide significant support to the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They performed 833,298 COVID-19 tests, administered 819,330 COVID-19 vaccinations, delivered 8.9 million pounds of personal protective equipment and distributed more than 2.8 million meals to the many geographically diverse populations across the state of Nevada, to include tribal communities.
“The Soldiers and Airmen do this job day-in-and-day-out without hesitation,” Grush said, “We greatly appreciate the recognition from all of our partners during this time. The pandemic response showed how necessary it is to create and maintain the excellent relationships we have across so many different levels and avenues within our state. We appreciate the award and what it means.”
Retired Col. Kim Neiman, who served as the Chief Nurse of the Nevada Air National Guard for twelve years from 1992-2005, nominated the Nevada National Guard for this prestigious award.
“I know the value, first hand, of the Guard’s mission.” Neiman said, “In the early months of the pandemic and as an employee of Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, I worked with the guard, together we conducted testing of hundreds of Reno-Sparks tribal members and members of the Reno community. Not just once but several times. Later I was involved on a regular basis conducting testing and picking up or delivering testing kits to the guard members working with the Nevada State Public Health Lab.”
The guardsmen supported 62 mobile sites, seven warehouse/logistic distribution centers, five food distribution operations, 23 stationary vaccination operations, two mobile vaccination operations and they sanitized four alternate care facilities.
Neiman added, “Without the Nevada Guard, our state’s efforts at controlling this pandemic would have been severely compromised.”
| Date Taken: | 05.13.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 06.13.2022 11:16 |
| Story ID: | 422787 |
| Location: | RENO, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 133 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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