LBCHP’s Zina Daniel Wins Top Award

There are not many people who set a 0% error rate in their work, but do not tell that to Zina Daniels. Her exemplary work at the Louisiana Breast & Cervical Health Program (LBCHP), which provides no-cost mammograms and Pap tests to Louisiana women who qualify, has led Zina to receiving the 2019 Charles E. Dunbar, Jr. Career Service Award. In doing so, Zina beat out estimated 30,000-plus potential workforce competitors and earned the highest honor a classified state employee can receive in Louisiana. 

Zina began her career as a civil servant in 2003 at one of LBCHP providers, with her work there leading to a position on LBCHP’s central office staff. Though her initial work and job description at LBCHP revolved around simple data entry, Zina voluntarily took on more duties and responsibilities – all without a raise or position change. She not only increased the number of information technology tasks she was doing and took on database record management, she then took the next step of analyzing data, and identifying and resolving data errors. 

Many people would have been daunted or unwilling to take on those kind of challenges – and certainly not without an immediate promise of more money or a new title. In spite of that, Zina pushed herself and LBCHP to new heights. LBCHP, which is mainly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only requires a <.05% error rate in its data submissions. Yet, on her own initiative, Zina moved that figure to <.001%. Not only that, she has set a personal goal of the aforementioned 0%, or zero, error rate. In short, Zina is striving for perfection.

You may ask what Zina’s drive for perfection means for you. For starters, it means that LBCHP now has one of the highest quality data sets in the nation – and since there is a program like LBCHP in every state, U.S. territory, tribal organization and Washington, D.C. – that is really saying something. But most importantly for you, great data means LBCHP performs better and serves more women, saving both lives and money. And that is good for all of us, as cancer patients and taxpayers. 

Zina is not resting on her laurels either. She is now designing projects to improve data collection and in-reach at LBCHP provider sites, while also planning to pilot centralized data entry. If successful, this last endeavor could save LBCHP hundreds of thousands of dollars, money that LBCHP can then use to provide more life-saving cancer screenings. In Louisiana, where women suffer from some of the highest breast and cervical cancer death rates in the country, that is the kind of work from which we all benefit.

And we have only tipped the top of the iceberg when it comes to Zina’s contributions. Zina is active in her church, helping with children’s religious studies, teaching a dance using sign language for the Christmas program, and collecting clothes for the homeless. During October Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she takes her work home, providing breast education and information about LBCHP services to women in her church and helping to navigate women in need of screenings to our clinical partners. 

Zina has done and accomplished all of the above, while raising three children alone after her husband, a New Orleans police officer, died in an accident. Zina was also recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and even as she undergoes treatment, she continues to work, while also spreading the word about cancer screening. Zina is a survivor in every sense of the word, dealing with challenges both professionally and personally, in a way that is an example to us all. 

We hope you, as a Louisiana resident and fellow citizen, feel as lucky as we do to have Zina working here at LBCHP, under the LCP umbrella. Congratulations, Zina!