Judy Dillon to retire, replacement appointed
Jim George, director of community relations, sent the following email on Thursday to Penn State Health employees:
As some of you may know, Judy Dillon, director of community health at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, plans to retire after 22 years of service.
Judy has been the face of our community health and outreach initiatives since the Department of Community Health was created seven years ago. Her many accomplishments include leading our Community Health Needs Assessments, starting a drive-through flu shot program in underserved communities and assisting the Lebanon School District with student health assessments.
Ashley Visco, manager of case management with Penn State Health Medical Group, will replace Dillon as community health director. Ashley will join the Community Relations Team on Oct. 28 to begin the transition. Larry Rower, manager of diabetes education, will be covering Ashley’s former role on an Interim basis.
We’re confident Ashley will continue to grow our community health initiatives as our health system expands its reach in the region, and we look forward to working with her.
Ashley received her master’s degree in social work from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her experience in healthcare spans multiple systems, inpatient, outpatient, state insurance companies and military treatment facilities.
She joined Penn State Health in August 2014 as the ambulatory social worker for family and community medicine and internal medicine. In that role, she helped prove the concept of adding social work to the patient-centered medical home.
In 2016, Ashley was promoted to manager of outpatient case management, where she increased the team size from six full-time nurses and social workers to 24 registered nurses, licensed practice nurses, social workers and ancillary staff. This team provides outpatient case management to more than 60 ambulatory practice sites.
Among Ashley’s many achievements is helping to create an Emergency Food Insecurity Program. Ashley worked with the community health director of the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and the Salvation Army to launch the educational and resource-based program and Emergency Food Box initiative. The program anticipates assisting 1,000 families this year.
Ashley also boosted Transitional Care Management revenue more than 200 percent by improving processes and workflows. Additionally, she instituted an organization-wide Health Literacy Program and screening process to improve communication between health care professionals and patients.
We’re planning a retirement celebration for Judy and will let you know the details. Please join me in wishing Judy a happy retirement and welcoming Ashley to the team.
Sincerely,
Jim George,
Director of Community Relations
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