Serve Wisconsin recently awarded Allison Hrovat, who is completing a year of service at Vida Medical Clinic and Support Services in Appleton, as the 2023 AmeriCorps VISTA Member of the Year. She was officially recognized with this honor at the Serve Wisconsin Governor’s Service Awards Ceremony on June 7, 2023, at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison.
During her year of service at Vida in partnership AmeriCorps and the Wisconsin Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (WAFCC), Allison helped advance strategic initiatives and expand capacity of Vida Medical Clinic to better serve its growing number of patients. She has undertaken numerous large projects, including developing a data retrieval protocol to gather and analyze clinical statistics as efficiently as possible and integrating new technologies into the clinic’s workflow to increase efficiency, communication, and patient ease. She also had significant positive impact on Vida’s partnership with the Wisconsin’s Well Woman Program, which helps women who have little or no health insurance get screenings for breast and cervical cancers.
“Serving at Vida in Appleton, Allison’s service is vital to offering support to the uninsured and underinsured residents of Wisconsin, pertaining specially to care for women who are pregnant or postpartum,” Connor Doppler, WAFCC manager, wrote in Allison’s nomination letter. “Allison has fully embraced […] improving lives and strengthening her community through her service and volunteering.”
Serve Wisconsin Executive Director Jeanne Duffy and Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez presented Allison with the award during the ceremony on Wednesday. Vida Executive Director Anne Tretinyak and Medical Clinic Nurse Manager Heidi, RN, were among the Vida staff to join Allison in Madison for the ceremony and official recognition.
“My year of service with Vida and WAFCC has impacted me in so many ways. I came in hoping to gain experience within the nonprofit sector and grassroots initiatives to increase access to healthcare and other community resources for those in need. I gained that experience tenfold, while making a difference in the Fox Valley by working on projects that expanded healthcare access and programming,” Allison said.
A native of the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area, Allison earned a dual degree (a bachelor of science degree in psychology and a bachelor of arts in sociology) from the University of Mount Union. In her undergraduate studies, her education and work had a heavy emphasis on research, statistics, and public and social health. She is now completing a second year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Vida and hopes to go onto graduate school in the coming years.
