VISN 12 Deputy Network Director Wins Federal Leadership Award

A VA Great Lakes Health Care System, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 12, leader was announced as a winner in the Chicago Federal Executive Board (FEB) 2021 awards competition.

Lynette Taylor, VISN 12 deputy network director, won the John F. Kennedy Leadership award in the competition for her role as VISN 12 incident commander, leading the COVID-19 response for VISN 12's eight medical facilities.

"I am proud that a VISN 12 leader was selected by the Chicago FEB as the winner of the JFK Leadership award," said Victoria Brahm, VISN 12 network director. "Ms. Taylor proactively determined appropriate actions to keep our Veterans, employees and each other safe in the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic."

During March and April of 2020, at the height of COVID -19 pandemic, Taylor led a plan to decompress medical beds from urban VA medical facilities in Milwaukee and Chicago to the less-impacted rural VA facilities of Tomah, Wisconsin, and Danville, Illinois, which allowed Jesse Brown and Hines VAs to support a federal mission assignment from the State of Illinois to provide care to civilian humanitarians. VISN 12 established a triage team that pre-screened civilians and determined the appropriate level of care for 45 med-surgical and 15 ICU beds. This collaborative effort with the Chicago public hospitals coordinated care for 41 civilians.

Taylor was presented the award during Chicago FEB's virtual award ceremony on May 5 during Public Service Recognition Week.

The VA Great Lakes Health Care System, VISN 12, with its eight medical centers, 41 outpatient clinics (including one Health Care Center), eight nursing homes, and seven domiciliaries, offers health care services to almost 800,000 Veterans who reside within its four-state (Illinois, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, and Northwest Indiana) area.