Ceremony on May 17th, 2018
[May 2, 2018 – Mentor, OH]: A number of Lake County residents will be honored when the Lake County Council on Aging holds its Annual Meeting and Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon on Thursday, May 17th, 2018 at 11:30am at the Holiday Inn on Route 306 in Mentor. The event is open to the public at a cost of $25.00 per person. Registration can be done online at www.lccoa.org or by phone call to the Council on Aging at 440-205-8111 by the deadline date of May 9th, 2018.
The Annual Meeting includes the election of officers and board members, along with the annual presentation of the 2018 “Lake County Senior Citizens Hall of Fame” Award. This year’s Hall of Fame inductees are Debbie Juker of Mentor and Judith Yackin of Willoughby. “Helping Hands” award recipients include Marlo Millard of the Ashtabula County Community Action Agency; along with Jim Kent, Jim Mackey and John Pecic, subcontractors for the Council on Aging.
The Board of Trustees will also present the “Ruth A. Densmore Senior Advocate Award” to Cynthia Moore-Hardy, President and CEO of Lake Health.
The 2018 Inductees are:
LAKE COUNTY SENIOR HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES 2018 (2 Awardees)
Established in 1994, the Lake County Senior Citizens Hall of Fame honors an individual or couple who at age 60 or older have had significant impact on the community through their employment, civic or volunteer activities.
- Debbie Juker of Mentor, Ohio
Debbie is a long time Lake County resident and is a giving and compassionate person who “illuminates the love she has within herself in others”. Debbie has been a Christ Child of the Western Reserve member since 2014, creating infant afghans and flannel blankets for distribution to hospitals, BirthRight, Project Hope, Hannah’s Home and Lake Recovery Center. She provides service to Project Hope by supervising the organization, shopping for, and delivery of ‘Crates for Kids’ care packages for children and families. Debbie (along with her dog Charlie) regularly reaches out to the elderly in her neighborhood with food and a visit. She is a great listener which enables her to really fulfill people’s needs, whether that of a stranger or her own family. - Judith Yackin of Willoughby, Ohio
For over seven years, Judy has committed her time and talents to meet the needs of the hungry in our community. Every week she oversees the preparation and serving of up to 200 meals for the community dinner at Willoughby United Methodist Church, and prepares and serves funeral lunches in order to provide comfort to their churchmember’s families in their time of need. As a member and Director of the Willoughby Food Pantry, Judy and staff have provided groceries and basic needs to over 720 families yearly. She is a founding member of the McKinley Outreach Center and their Saturday breakfast program has served over 1,620 meals. Judy is a selfless servant in caring for the hungry and treats all her guests like family.
HELPING HANDS AWARDS 2018 (4 Awardees)
The Helping Hands award annually recognizes a deserving person, business, or organization whose contribution(s) made a significant impact on the agency or on the behalf of the clients of the agency.
- Marlo Millard, Customer Service/Intake Specialist, Community Action
As an employee of Ashtabula Community Action Agency, Marlo has dedicated a lot of her time to providing presentations about the free services offered to income eligible individuals and families regarding the HWAP (the Home Weatherization Assistance Program). She has visited numerous Lake County senior centers and the Council on Aging to educate staff on these very valuable programs that allow seniors to save on their utility costs by refining the home’s energy efficiency by insulating the home,providing and installing new hot water tanks, refrigerators and freezers, all at no cost to income eligible participants. Ms. Millard is a true asset to the seniors of Lake County. - Jim Kent
- Jim Mackey
- John Pecic (3 Individual Awards)
o These three gentlemen have represented the Council on Aging as subcontractors in the Home Maintenance, Modification and Repair (HMMR) program. This program has recently been assimilated into another agency and we will no longer be providing services as we have in the past. Over the years, they have installed hundreds, and in Jim Mackey’s case, thousands, of fixtures in seniors’ homes to keep them safe and prevent falls. They are kind and compassionate in understanding our clients’ needs and are extra patient handling work requests. All have received rave reviews in customer satisfaction surveys. They have served our seniors very well using their expertise to install hand grips and grab bars, hand railings indoors and out, hand held showers, threshold ramps and many, many miscellaneous projects. For these reasons they are deserving of recognition for their service to the agency.
THE RUTH A. DENSMORE SENIOR ADVOCATE AWARD 2018 (1 Awardee)
The Ruth A. Densmore Senior Advocate Award annually recognizes a deserving person or organization on the basis of outstanding community involvement (past or present) within the county on behalf of Lake County’s senior citizens.
- Cynthia Moore-Hardy, Lake Health President and CEO
Cynthia Moore-Hardy joined Lake Health in 1988 and has served as its President and CEO since 1997. Prior to her appointment as president and CEO, she served as the System’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.A lifelong advocate for the growing needs of the senior population, Ms. Moore recognizes the incidence of dementia and the related safety issues seniors and their loved ones deal with on a daily basis. In 2013 Ms. Moore partnered with leadership of the Lake County Council onAging to reestablish a geriatric assessment program at Lake Health, known as GAP. This multi-disciplinary, outpatient evaluation program is designed to offer assessment of a senior’s medical, emotional, cognitive, and functional status, and offer recommendations regarding maintaining health and safety in the community. GAP patients can come from any- where in northeast Ohio, however, patients who participate in the GAP and are residents of Lake County are easily connected back to the Council on Aging for ongoing support and services.As a result, Ms. Moore’s ambition to launch the GAP program has brought comprehensive support for seniors and their families and is making their journey easier.
Ms. Moore-Hardy is a member and a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of the American Hospital Association, where she serves as an alternate delegate to the Regional Policy Board. She serves on numerous boards including Fifth Third Bank, Leadership Lake County, the Alzheimer’s Association Professional Advisory Board, the Holden Arboretum, and the Cleveland Food Bank.
Among her recent awards are Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare; American College of Healthcare Executives Regent’s Award; VNA Distinguished Woman in Healthcare; Inside Business Power 100 list; Crain’s Cleveland Business Woman of Note; Leadership Lake County Leader of the Year; Cleveland State University’s Outstanding Alumnus of the Nance School of Business, and the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award.
“Our community has benefitted so much from the commitment and contributions of these award recipients to the senior population,” said Joe Tomsick, CEO of the Lake County Council on Aging. “Our Board of Trustees and staff wanted to recognize the outstanding efforts of these awardees! We’re proud to honor them all for extending their talents and gifts beyond the walls of our agency.”