UIC-DSCC announces 2020 Award of Merit winner

Tiffany Kalka is the 2020 recipient of the Award of Merit from the University of Illinois Chicago’s Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC). The award recognizes exceptional employees for outstanding dedication and service to children with special health care needs.

DSCC is a statewide program that partners with Illinois families and their local communities to help children with special health care needs connect to services and resources.

Kalka is DSCC’s training supervisor and based at our Central Administrative Office in Springfield. She works with staff across the state to make sure they have the knowledge, tools and support necessary to provide the best service possible for children and families in our program. Kalka wears many hats, coordinating training events and learning requirements for staff and their related technology needs.

DSCC moved to a new electronic care coordination system last spring. This new system helps our care coordination teams work more efficiently and effectively as they partner with families. Kalka helped spearhead the system’s planning, implementation and ongoing support for employees. She took on this huge volume of work while also fulfilling her training responsibilities with exceptional dedication and quality.

“Tiffany’s talent and knowledge have helped us develop our care coordination system that better meets our participants and staff’s needs,” said DSCC Executive Director Thomas Jerkovitz. “Tiffany’s efforts have empowered our staff to be better champions for the children and families we serve.”

Kalka joined DSCC 19 years ago. She says she is honored and grateful to be nominated and selected for this award.

“The most rewarding part of my job is being able to help my peers navigate our electronic care coordination system,” she said. “By helping them, I know that I am helping the families DSCC serves.”

DSCC staff nominated a total of 10 of their colleagues for this year’s Award of Merit. As the winner, Kalka receives an Award of Merit memento, a $2,000 award and recognition from the Executive Director.

 About DSCC: The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC) serves thousands of families each year in all 102 Illinois counties through 11 regional offices. Learn more at https://dscc.uic.edu/.