Five Star Service Award Recognition
UVALDE, TX – During the 60th Annual Texas Vital Statistics Conference, held December 11-13 in Austin, TX,
Uvalde Memorial Hospital received 2 prestigious state awards. Norma Castro, birth registrar in Uvalde
Memorial Hospital’s medical records or health information management (HIM) department, accepted the
Five Star Service Award from the Texas Department of State Health Services’ vital statistics unit and the
Office of Attorney General Award for Acknowledgement of Paternity.
The Five Star Service award is given to only those hospitals in the state who have met a list of criteria for
qualification set by the vital statistics unit. Qualifications include legal and statistical measurements on all
birth registrations completed, timeliness of birth registrations of babies born at the hospital, and training
standards of birth registrars at the facility. Hospitals must also have been recipients of the Office of
Attorney General Award for Acknowledgement of Paternity and
Department of State Health Services ImmTrac Award for Excellence in
2014 to qualify.
Uvalde Memorial was placed in the Winners category meeting 99% of
each criterion. Only 34 other hospitals in the state fell into the winners
category that requires a minimum of meeting 97% criterion and 19 into
the exemplary winners’ bracket. The exemplary winner’s bracket is
made up of those hospitals that meet 100% of criteria.
This year’s honors marked the 13th consecutive year the hospital has
received the award.
The Office of Attorney General Award for Acknowledgement of Paternity
was also received at the convention. To achieve the paternity
acknowledgement criteria, birth registrars must complete the 71% state
average or higher of potential Acknowledgement of Paternity (AOP) from
October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014.
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PICTURE: L-R – Yolanda Valerio, Director of HIM; Grace Gonzales, HIM analyst; Norma Castro, birth
certificate clerk; and Bennie Sanchez, clerk, display the state awards their department won for 2014.