For her dedication to the underserved residents of Ocean County and her contributions to the mission of OHI (Ocean Health Initiatives), Loida Lebron, Toms River, has been named 2009 Employee of the Year.  Dr. Theresa Berger, CEO, presented Lebron with a plaque from the Board of Directors, the management team, and the staff of OHI. Lebron, who has worked for OHI for almost three years, was a bilingual family advocate for Acelero Learning Head Start, Asbury Park, before taking a position at OHI as a social services patient advocate. 
Bridget Hogan, chief operating officer of OHI, appointed Lebron the community services outreach coordinator, a position that makes Lebron responsible for all nonclinical functions of the Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) and part of the management team.  The OHI Mobile Medical Unit is an effort to bring some medical and dental services to specific areas in Ocean County and to people there who might not have the transportation to seek medical services.
Hogan says, “Loida has the extremely unique mix of possessing business acumen with patient advocacy, a winning combination.  She has worked tirelessly in making the MMU a huge success, taking this challenge head on and making significant progress in reaching out to the community; increasing the number of medical visits on the MMU; increasing the appearances of the MMU at community outreach events; and, most importantly, increasing patient access to health care.”
Lebron received a B.S. in health care services administration from the University of Phoenix, Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2006 and is currently earning a master’s degree in business administration. 
OHI, with offices in Lakewood and Toms River, provides affordable, high quality, cost-effective healthcare services to the uninsured, underinsured, and undocumented population.  In 2009, OHI cared for more than 28,000 patients, had 66,200 patient encounters, including 1050 births. OHI treatment plans are designed to help people of all ages and life cycles in an effort to improve their quality of life. Their services include pediatrics, adult medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, dental, and podiatry.