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GCVHCS Recognizes 50-year Veterans Health Administration Employee During Virtual Ceremony

Peak 50 Year
BILOXI, Mississippi -- Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System (GCVHCS) Chief of Audiology and Speech Pathology Dr. Margaret Peak (center), receives a proclamation denoting Feb. 7 as Dr. Margaret Peak Day in the City of Biloxi, Mississippi, from City of Biloxi Councilman Felix Gines, left, during a virtual ceremony celebrating her 50 years of service to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). (Official GCVHCS photo by Wayne Alley, GCVHCS Medical Media)
By Jason Boatwright, Public Affairs Specialist

BILOXI, Miss. – The longest tenured Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System (GCVHCS) employee was recognized during a Feb. 7 virtual ceremony celebrating her 50 years of service with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).

Dr. Margaret Peak, Ph.D., the GCVHCS Chief of Audiology and Speech Pathology, was lauded for her five decades of service during the brief ceremony, at which she was presented a 50-year service pin from GCVHCS Director Bryan C. Matthews.

“Dr. Peak has done any and everything she can over the years to meet the demands of what our Veterans need,” he said. “Her unprecedented dedication to providing the very best health care to our nation’s heroes is at the core of our value system, and her longevity and success is a testament to both herself, the VHA and to the VA’s Audiology and Speech Pathology. It’s an honor to recognize an individual who has impacted so many lives.”

Peak was joined virtually by friends and colleagues, as well as City of Biloxi Councilman Felix Gines (Ward 2), who presented a proclamation denoting Feb. 7 as Dr. Margaret Peak Day in the City of Biloxi, a testament to Peak’s significant contributions to the sizable Veteran population along the Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast.

“To know that what I really wanted to do I seem to have done and the staff has been appreciative of it,” Peak said. “It’s been a pleasure watching students come and sad to see them go but lovely to see them stay in the [VA] system or in the community because it means more and more people are getting the help they need.”

Former GCVHCS Chief of Audiology and Speech Pathology and founder of the department, Dr. Peter Ganley, added that since the GCVHCS Audiology and Speech Pathology service was founded 47 years ago, there had been two service chiefs; after Ganley’s departure, Peak took over in 1990.

“I knew that when I hired you 32 years ago the journey would begin,” Ganley said during the ceremony. “We have come a long way, and to see the leadership and dedication now is outstanding.”

Peak, who began her VA career with the St. Louis VA Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1972, oversees audiology services at GCVHCS facilities in Biloxi, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Pensacola and Panama City Beach, Florida. GCVHCS Audiology and Speech Pathology issued nearly 11,000 hearing aids in 2019; facilitated the repair of 7,300 hearing aids through the Denver Logistics Center’s (DLC), which provides supply chain management for the VA National Hearing Aid and Home Telehealth Programs; and repaired nearly 12,000 hearing aids in GCVHCS clinics.

In addition to being named the 2021 GCVHCS Service Chief of the year, Peak was also recognized during the 2021 Joint Defense Veterans Audiology Conference (JDVAC), receiving the Lt. Frank B. Walkup IV Distinguished Service Award. Named for the son of a VA audiologist and U.S. Army Ranger killed in Rashaad, Iraq, in 2007, the award recognizes special contributions made to the Association of VA Audiologists (AVAA) and VA Audiology through VA-related activities.

The GCVHCS, comprised of the Biloxi VA Medical Center; the Joint Ambulatory Care Center (JACC) in Pensacola, Florida, and the Mobile, Alabama, and Eglin and Panama City Beach Community-based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCS), provide a variety of health care services to more than 82,000 Veterans.