“When you have a passion for something, you figure out how to do it,”
Dr. Kimberly Horton
The Chief Executive
University of Phoenix graduate provides inspiration to students. Few people can rival the ongoing accomplishments of Dr. Kimberly Horton: Chief nursing executive, writer, founder of a nonprofit, professional singer, and most recently, a University of Phoenix graduate featured in the school's national advertising campaign.
“When you have a passion for
something, you figure out how to do it,”
says Horton, 50, who earned her Doctor of Health Administration degree from University of Phoenix in 2008.
From Adversity to Achievement
Horton is modest, but her road to success was not easy. She grew up in Compton, Calif., a rough area south of Los Angeles. She had two children by age 18, and was divorced shortly before her 19th birthday.
She says the anger she felt — for being ostracized and scorned by others for becoming a young mother — only motivated her. So in addition to raising her children, she worked two jobs and paid her way through nursing school with minimal loans, earning her master’s degree in nursing from California State University, Fresno. In 2004, she enrolled in University of Phoenix aiming to earn her doctorate.
“It was actually the best academic experience I’ve had,” she says. “It was grueling and I was glad of that because I didn’t want to get a degree in name only.” Horton’s career is filled with achievements. From 2005 to 2010, she worked as a vice president and chief nursing officer for Mercy Hospital of Bakersfield, where she oversaw all nursing services at two acute care hospitals and two outpatient clinics. In addition, Horton founded a county chapter for the Association of California Nurse Leaders and helped launch an adult sickle-cell program in Fresno (now a national model for adult treatment centers).
She is now the chief nursing executive for the Alameda County Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., where she helps manage an operations budget of about $250 million, oversees 1,200 employees and runs the nursing services for the entire Alameda County system.
At the Mental Health Agency, Mrs. Sharp was instrumental in charting the course of the Agency’s reforms and improvements. She worked each day with Agency staff, providers, consumers and other stakeholders. Staff and consumers alike hail Veda as a tireless worker and advocate for consumers, the community, and the people of Detroit and Wayne County.
Veda A. Sharp and Associates, LLC
Chief Executive Officer
Veda Sharp has a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan and a remarkable tenure in social, human and health services where she has accomplished ground breaking work.
Mrs. Sharp has established food co-ops and worked with gang members. She was the founding director of BIRTH – Babies Inalienable Right to Health – which became a model for prenatal care programs.
Veda has worked at the federal level as an aide to both Congressman Sander Levin and Senator Carl Levin. She worked for the State of Michigan Department of Public Health. She has served as the women’s specialist for the Office of Substance Abuse Services, MDCH, where she implemented a special program aimed at meeting the needs of women and children impacted by substance use disorder.
Mrs. Sharp joined Wayne County in 1991 as the Assistant Division Director for Patient Care Management Systems, the division responsible for indigent health care programs. She was later named the Special Assistant for Juvenile Justice, Division of Policy and Programs within the Wayne County Department of Community Justice.
She joined the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency in 2000, initially as the Agency Compliance Officer. She was promoted to Chief Deputy Director in 2001 and to Acting Executive Director in 2007.
"My opinion is that the stigma associated with mental illness compounds the racial and ethnic issues that impact the African-American experience in our country,"
Minorities face many obstacles to seeking treatment for mental health issues, including concerns about costs, transportation, lack of familiarity with available resources and language barriers. But one of the most significant appears to be cultural stigmas against admitting and getting help for mental illness said Veda Sharp, executive director of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, "fear of being ostracized, not fitting in, being thought of as a second-class citizen.
"The experiences of poverty -- including lack of education and health education in particular -- along with the myths associated with mental illness, all contribute to the stigma experienced.
"The negative portrayals of African Americans and other persons with mental illness in the electronic media and movies also impact how people with mental illness perceive themselves and their willingness to step forward and ask for assistance or identify themselves."
A National Institute of Mental Health study published last year showed that only about half of Americans diagnosed with major depression in a given year are treated, and only one in five of those get treatment consistent with American Psychiatric Association guidelines. African Americans and Mexican Americans had the lowest rates of those getting the care they need.
For African Americans, 14% of those diagnosed with depression received the acceptable standard of care; for Mexican Americans, it was 12%, the study showed.
HEALTHCARE PROFILE
HEALTHCARE PROFILE
