[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 8, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1452-E1453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        RECOGNIZING MARIA GOMEZ

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, October 8, 2013

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me 
in recognizing Maria Gomez, president and CEO of Mary's Center, for her 
outstanding contributions to health care, education and other social 
services in the District of Columbia and for being awarded the 2012 
Presidential Citizens Medal.
  A nurse by training, Maria Gomez holds a nursing degree from 
Georgetown University and a Master of Public Health degree from the 
University California at Berkley. Mary's Center's services often are 
comprehensive, but Maria Gomez has never strayed far from health care. 
Maria Gomez founded Mary's Center in 1988, initially to provide 
bilingual prenatal and maternity care to vulnerable immigrant women in 
the District of Columbia. The small, basement- level facility, which 
served 200 women yearly in 1988, quickly expanded and today there are 
six locations in the District of Columbia and Maryland, and two mobile 
units, which serve over 50,000

[[Page E1453]]

men, women, and children of every background yearly. Maria Gomez molded 
the mission of Mary's Center into a model wraparound non-profit to 
improve the futures of our Hispanic residents through the delivery of 
health care, education and social services.
  Maria Gomez's has received numerous awards for work at Mary's Center. 
Among her awards are recognition in Washingtonian Magazine as one of 
the 45 individuals who shaped Washington, D.C. between 1965 and 2010, a 
Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management, and a 
Champions of Choice Award from Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan 
Washington. She also has been singled out by the federal Health 
Resources and Services Administration for her excellent leadership in 
providing access to care for Latino women and children.
  Mr. Speaker, in this first month of the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange, 
it is appropriate to note that Mary's Center is a neighborhood Health 
Exchange Assister, a natural role for a leadership organization and for 
a leader whose career exemplifies offering health care to D.C. 
residents. I ask my colleagues to join me honoring Maria Gomez for her 
work in health care and her excellence in providing other services to 
the people of the District of Columbia.

                          ____________________