Renee Halberg, MSW, LCSW, a clinical social worker at Duke Eye Center, is this year's winner of the Brandy McDaniel Social Worker of the Year Award. The award was presented on March 30 at the annual clinical social work breakfast celebrating Social Work Month.
In a letter of support for Halberg's nomination for the award, Sharon Freedman, MD; Miguel Materin, MD; Cynthia Toth, MD; and Edward Buckley, MD, physicians at the Duke Eye Center wrote, "she always goes the extra mile in her role. As the only full-time social worker at the Duke Eye Center, Renee is often asked to deal with a huge variety of challenging patient scenarios."
Her team also shared, "Despite her long days, which often stretch into the evening hours, Renee frequently comes by our pediatric eye clinic to see whether we have encountered any patients that may need her help. She works with our staff assistants to identify some of these tough cases even before we set eyes on them, and she is there when they arrive, ready to jump in and help us preserve their vision."
The award goes to the social worker who demonstrates clear excellence in their job performance, is a strong advocate for a particular patient population, is considered a highly collaborative team player who works well with other disciplines and has significantly enhanced the visibility and level of professionalism of social work at Duke University Hospital (DUH).
The award is named after the first recipient of the award in 1994, Brandy McDaniel, who in her 23-year career, made significant contributions to the department of social work and to DUH