Strength Honored with Sherry Barnett Award

The Dental College of Georgia recently presented the 2023 Sherry Barnett Customer Service Award to Teresa Strength, DCG Clinics Support Specialist. The award was established to recognize the values of professionalism, understanding, respect, service and excellence exemplified by former Augusta University staff member Sherry Barnett.

In her position, Strength coordinates schedules for all department personnel, processes all patient referrals and schedules all patient appointments. She provides correspondence to internal and external organizations before and after treatment and maintains sensitive HIPAA-compliant documentation critical for patient care. She routinely coordinates medically complex patients from Children’s Hospitals of Georgia and Veterans Administration patients, as we service all needs for our local veterans.

One nominator said, “She routinely goes out of her way, and often beyond her job requirements, to streamline a convoluted web of bureaucratic red tape and administrative pitfalls for truly needy patients, who would otherwise be turned away or dismissed as too complicated. She facilitates hospital operating room schedules, Medicaid approvals, and unique accommodations for critically ill children or special needs patients, as a personal obligation to ensure their needs can be met here at Augusta University. All of this requires continuous patience, diligence, and a sense of ownership. Her tenacity and creativity in coordinating patient care for our clinic are not simply abstract or theoretical.”

In the past fiscal year, Strength has been instrumental in creating a system that has allowed residents to increase clinic production revenue by 17 percent, benefiting the enterprise financially along with our patient population.

This year, we received almost 30 nominations for this award. To recognize those who are doing award-worthy work, even though we can only have one to award, we have added a nominees’ lunch with the dean at the Pinnacle Club for all nominees and the winner.

Thank you to everyone for your dedication and for exemplifying the Essence of Excellence in customer service.