April 4, 2023
Employees celebrated for volunteerism
Kaiser Permanente Hawaii recognized exemplary community volunteers with the 2022 David Lawrence Community Service Award.
HONOLULU — Kaiser Permanente in Hawaii recently honored Scott Denny, certified physician assistant, and Susan May, Doctor of Audiology, as 2022 national David Lawrence Community Service Award recipients.
The annual award honors Kaiser Permanente employees in each of the organization’s 8 regions for their outstanding volunteer activities that improve community health and wellness. To celebrate the accomplishments of Denny and May, Kaiser Permanente will donate $10,000 each to Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center and Kokua Kalihi Valley Roots Project.
Scott Denny, PA-C, is medical director, HIV and PrEP Services, at the Gender Health Services Care Pathway Center. His passion for improving access to care for people who are transgender or gender diverse without the barriers of fear, shame, and stigma lies at the core of his work and extends to his community service. In 2020, he collaborated with the Nuuanu YMCA to establish Rainbow Connections, a program for the transgender/gender diverse youth community to share experiences and access support. He regularly educates the community on LGBTQ+-related health care, speaking at events including the Aloha Medical Conference, Maui Health Fair, the Health Information Management Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Pharmacists Association at the University of Hawaii, Hawaii LGBT Legacy Foundation, University of Hawaii’s residency program, and Hawaii Employers Council. Recently, he was instrumental in helping to draft legislation that would allow physician assistants to change an individual’s gender on birth certificates. Denny will direct his $10,000 donation to Kua'ana Project, a transgender-dedicated branch at the Health and Harm Reduction Center.
Susan May, AuD, supervising audiologist at Moanalua Medical Center, has volunteered with the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Summer Games for 20 years. For the past 14 years, she has been the organization’s co-director of healthy hearing, coordinating volunteers from Kaiser Permanente, University of Hawaii, and the community to provide health screenings for Special Olympics athletes. The hearing screenings have greatly improved the quality of life for more than 3,500 athletes with intellectual disabilities. She has also inspired significant volunteer support from her Kaiser Permanente colleagues, many of whom provide physical exams for the summer Olympians. She trains University of Hawaii graduate students on how to screen people with disabilities. She volunteers for the state of Hawaii Board of Speech Pathology and Audiology, the American Cancer Society, and the annual Honolulu AIDS Walk. May will direct her $10,000 donation to Kokua Kalihi Valley Roots Project.
The David Lawrence Community Service Award is named for David Lawrence, MD, former chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente and a lifelong advocate for improving health.
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, Kaiser Permanente has a mission to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 12.6 million members in 8 states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal Permanente Medical Group physicians, specialists, and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the-art care delivery, and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education, and the support of community health.
