The exceptional accomplishments of B.C.'s Lower Mainland public service employees were recognised with the annual Premier's Innovation and Excellence Awards.

"I would like to thank each of the recipients for their dedication. Their efforts and innovations have sparked changes that improve the lives of people living in the Lower Mainland and ultimately benefit all British Columbians," said Premier Clark.

Public service employees were recognized for creating new and better ways of providing services, including a team that reaches out to help at-risk youth and connect them with programs and resources, helping keep them safe and prevent crime. Another team provides an integrated testing program to find and treat HIV-infected British Columbians. The Vancouver Drug Court Treatment and Resource Centre was recognized for its success in reducing drug-related criminal activity among program graduates. And through the leadership of an employee at the Ministry of Social Development, staff were able to better serve a high volume of clients.

"The employees recognised today demonstrate that the public service fosters employees who push to achieve superior delivery of the services British Columbians rely on," said Finance Minister Kevin Falcon.

John Dyble, Deputy Minister to the Premier, announced the award winners via a streaming online video presentation. Similar webcasts will honour Northern, Interior and Vancouver Island employees. The final celebration will take place in Victoria at a provincial awards ceremony.

This year, more than 300 employees and teams from the Lower Mainland region were celebrated for outstanding achievement and received awards in five categories including: Cross Government Integration, Innovation, Partnership, Organizational Excellence, and Leadership.

Learn More:

Videos of all Premier's Award finalists can be viewed online at: http://www.youtube.com/user/BCPublicService#p/p

A backgrounder follows.

Contact:

Sara MacIntyre
Director of Communications
Office of the Premier
250 580-7701

Jamie Edwardson
Communications Director
Ministry of Finance
250 356-2821

Backgrounder

Premier's Awards honour Lower Mainland recipients

300 public service employees from the Lower Mainland have received awards in Leadership, Cross Government Integration, Innovation, Organizational Excellence and Partnership.

Ministry of Children and Families, Inter-Regional At Risk Youth Link

PARTNERSHIP CATEGORY - The Ministry of Children and Families created a team that reaches out to at-risk youth by meeting them at SkyTrain stations where they congregate in groups and can sometimes get into trouble. The five members of the Inter-Regional At Risk Youth Link meet with approximately 800 - 1,000 young people each month and create trust by engaging them in activities and connecting them to resources such as school supports and addiction services. The program has had success in preventing crime and keeping youth safe through its unique partnership with Pacific Community Resources, Police, TransLink, Greater Vancouver Transit Authority and other community agencies.

Ministry of Health, Seek and Treat to Optimally Prevent HIV/AIDS (STOP HIV) Testing Initiative

INNOVATION CATEGORY - By encouraging health practitioners to offer HIV testing more rapidly and as part of routine testing procedures, a health pilot is helping identify British Columbians who don't know they are infected with HIV/AIDS (approximately 25 per cent of those infected). Seek and Treat to Optimally Prevent HIV/AIDS (STOP HIV) is an integrated testing program among mental health and substance use care, primary care, public health and community based services that engages people in HIV screening, diagnosis, treatment and support. Testing is happening in new locations like methadone clinics with evening and weekend availability. Increased testing will ultimately decrease the number of new HIV infections.

Public Safety and Solicitor General, Drug Treatment Court of Vancouver (DTCV)

CROSS GOVERNMENT INTEGRATION CATEGORY - A specialised court in Vancouver provides a voluntary alternative to the regular criminal court process for individuals who commit offences because they have a drug addiction. During a 14-week intensive treatment at the Vancouver Drug Court Treatment and Resource Centre, participants receive holistic treatment services from addictions counsellors, probation officers, an employment assistance worker, a psychologist and a medical doctor. A recent academic analysis of the court's results shows that providing addictions treatment in collaboration with justice services has reduced the drug-related recidivism of graduates of the program by more than 50 per cent.

Ministry of Social Development, Patti Boyle

LEADERSHIP CATEGORY - Patti Boyle, a director in the Ministry of Social Development, designed a new management system to create a more efficient way for her staff in the Fraser region to serve almost a third of the ministry's entire income assistance case load. She increased capacity on the phone queue for more timely responses to clients. Her leadership skills were used to implement the Integrated Case Management System, a major change in the ministry's method of delivering service. She also increased the efficiency of a centralized service team that was able to move a large volume of work away from frontline offices allowing them more time to deal with individual clients.

Ministry of Social Development, Regional Services Division, Burnaby Metro Pointe Employment and Assistance Office

ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE CATEGORY - Ministry of Social Development's Regional Services Division forged a team that was able to work together to provide superior service delivery in a stressful office environment at a time of increasing case loads. By developing a shared vision of a successful team they were able to dramatically increase their engagement scores which include commitment to the public service, teamwork and job satisfaction.

Contact:

Sara MacIntyre
Director of Communications
Office of the Premier
250 580-7701

Jamie Edwardson
Communications Director
Ministry of Finance
250 356-2821