Doctor, patient advocate earn top honors at Milwaukee VA

These are just a few of the words used to describe Dr. Adrienne Klement and patient advocate Melissa Barker, who were named as the Milwaukee VA’s Employee of the Year and I CARE Champion of the Year, respectively.

They were chosen from 75 nominations submitted over the past year for the Employee of the Month and I CARE Champion of the Month awards.

“There were terrific nominations that showed all the wonderful things our employees are doing,” said Jim McLain, acting medical center director. “I don’t think we can thank our employees enough for their hard work and dedication.

“We have a noble cause, and it’s amazing the work and dedication they show in taking care of our nation’s heroes. It is critically important to stand up and shout all the great things our employees are doing.”

Going ‘above and beyond’

Klement was honored for her work in palliative care and general internal medicine.

“She has consistently gone above and beyond in her Veteran-centric care and her willingness to help her colleagues, but never more than during COVID,” wrote nominator Dr. Kathryn Recka. “At a time when our staffing was described as ‘crisis mode,’ she stepped into the void and has never complained about the extra work or even asked for extra compensation.”

Recka lauded Klement’s willingness to fill in for sick colleagues and even take on extra duties for the Community Living Centers. She also champions interdisciplinary care, working with nursing, nursing leadership, social work, chaplains and psychology colleagues.

Outside the Milwaukee VA, Klement volunteers with the Medical College of Wisconsin and Affiliated Hospitals’ internal medicine residency program and was a presenter at the Kern Teaching Academy.

“She continues to be one of our most highly rated educators, routinely receiving high praise from her medical students and residents,” Recka wrote, noting that Klement received the James L. Sebastian Outstanding Teaching Award in 2020. This is the highest award for VA educators from the MCWAH internal medicine residency.

“Adrienne Klement generously and selflessly embodies ICARE values, but more importantly, she teaches those values to the next generation of physicians,” Recka wrote.

Rising to the occasion

Barker took on the role of patient advocate for the Appleton and Cleveland outpatient clinics when the normal patient advocate was on military leave for a year.

According to nominator Michael Wallner, the Green Bay patient advocate, Barker rose to the challenge, noting that being a patient advocate is “very challenging and difficult.”

He described her performance as “nothing short of outstanding” in how she embraced the role and helped Veterans and their families navigate the VA health care system.

“She fully engaged this position with all her effort and attention to detail,” Wallner wrote. “She stepped up and volunteered to take on a very demanding assignment, where others would not. Her hard work, superior personal skills and attention to detail showed daily.”

Barker quickly mastered the numerous programs involved in Veteran health care and helped many Veterans who were “falling through the cracks on community care” by coordinating directly with the community care department.

She also took on daunting billing issues for Veterans, Wallner wrote.

“She provided assistance and guidance to them when they had nowhere else to turn. … Her assistance saved Veterans and their families tens of thousands of dollars.

“Melissa’s performance … is a true demonstration of the ICARE values.”