SAN LUIS VALLEY — The San Luis Valley Joint Interagency Oversight Group (SLV Joint IOG) is pleased to honor two partner agency staff members with the “Boots on the Ground” award in recognition of employees who exemplify the spirit of cross-systems collaboration.
The Award recipients for January – July 2018 were: Paula Medina, Ann Marie Peterson, Gail Garcia-Kuhns and Veronica Trujillo.   
Paula Medina has worked with youth and families for many years at Center for Restorative Programs. Medina naturally integrates the organization’s 10 guiding principles into the important work she does for local communities.
One principle that particularly stands out in her daily work is a commitment to youth in the area of persistence. She does not give up on kids. Period. She easily gains trust when working with a young person and with their family.  She is patient and kind. She is a person you want to see on the other side of the table when you are working through issues. She is a person you want to talk to when you are nervous, scared or even angry. Medina is a person who deserves this award— her Boots are tough and cool.
Ann-Marie Peterson, RN, MSN had many years of nursing experience prior to joining the Alamosa County Public Health Department in June 2016 as a public health nurse. Ann-Marie was assigned the challenge of implementing Communities That Care as a framework for the Alamosa County Prevention Coalition, a grant through Alamosa County Public Health Department. As IOG’s work and guiding principles exist to serve youth and family, CTC employs those same principles to serve an entire community.
Peterson often quips “As a pediatric nurse I assessed, planned and delivered nursing care to an infant; now that patient is a community.”
Gail Garcia-Kuhns has been doing this work for a long time through SLV Behavioral Health Group and Center for Restorative Programs. She has the ability and skills to balance being compassionate and professional so well that sometimes from the outside looking in, it can be undetected. Garcia-Kuhns not only has an incredible heart for the families and students that she works with, but she also has passion, kindness, insight and understanding. She also has the knowledge and insight of how to balance all those strong components with all the professional requirements needed to keep the boundaries that are required for this work. She does this so well, that some can sometimes take it for granted. Garcia-Kuhns does an amazing job of making it look easy.  She puts her all in everything she does.
Veronica Trujillo has built many valuable community partner relationships throughout her years of collaboration while working as a clinician at SLV Behavioral Health Group. She works to seek out resources and is creative in her approaches when working with clients. Her specialty and passion is in the treatment she has provided over the years for adolescents across the San Luis Valley in a variety of settings. Her current work as a treatment provider and care coordinator for all the dependency and neglect courts throughout the San Luis Valley is to efficiently and quickly connect clients with mental health services that are involved in dependency and neglect cases. Her position takes a great amount of working collaboratively with other members and professionals in the community.
Established in 2008, the SLV Joint IOG, funded through Colorado State House Bill 1451, currently includes Alamosa and Rio Grande Counties. Over 20 agencies participate in the SLV Joint IOG; the 12th Judicial District Probation Department and Senate Bill 94 Program, Alamosa County Department of Human Services, Alamosa County Public Health Department, Alamosa School District, Center for Restorative Programs, Colorado Division of Youth Corrections, Colorado Health Partnerships, Crossroads’ Turning Points, Del Norte School District, Monte Vista School District, Rio Grande County Department of Social Services, Teri Sisneros, Rio Grande County Family Representative, Rio Grande County Public Health Department, San Luis Valley Early Childhood Council, San Luis Valley Behavioral Health Group, San Luis Valley BOCES, Sargent School District, Signal Behavioral Health Network, and Tu Casa.
The goal of the SLV Joint IOG is to develop collaborative approaches for the provision of individualized, strength-based, family-centered, and culturally sensitive services to children, youth, and families. The SLV Joint IOG works to increase the quality and appropriateness of services while encouraging cost sharing and reducing service duplication and fragmentation.
For more information about the SLV Joint IOG, please visit slv1451.org or contact Carrie Heltzel, director, at carrieheltzel @gmail.com.paula.boots.3