Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida has awarded Cathy Timuta, executive director for the Healthy Start Coalition of Southwest Florida with the 2016 Prendergast Family Child Advocacy Award in recognition of her passion and commitment to keeping children safe through drowning prevention efforts.
As Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee for the Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions, Timuta helped lead the successful efforts to stop $9.5 million in proposed cuts to Healthy Start in 2009. She is a past President of the Association and helped design a statewide information system for the MomCare program. As the Florida Medicaid model reformed, Timuta was instrumental in keeping Healthy Start Coalitions funded and under local control. Currently, she serves on the Expert Advisor’s Committee of the statewide Healthy Start 2.5 Initiative.
