The award was given for Cempa’s leading role in making COVID-19 testing more available throughout the area’s historically underserved communities.

Cempa Community Care was recently honored with the Governor’s Award of Excellence for its role in bringing reliable and safe COVID-19 testing to numerous historically underserved communities across the Chattanooga area.

“We are so pleased to be recognized for our efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure all residents across the Greater Chattanooga Area have access to vital testing,” said Shannon Stephenson, CEO at Cempa Community Care. “We were able to quickly mobilize to meet the need thanks to our incredible staff, our preexisting resources — namely our mobile testing unit — and the help of some dedicated community partners.”

Since the COVID-19 wave began sweeping across Tennessee, Cempa has provided free testing to nearly 8,000 area residents in partnership with the Hamilton County Health Department, Alleo Health System, La Paz Chattanooga, LifeSpring Community Health, the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, the Chattanooga Department of Youth & Family Development, Collegedale Community Church, and Carnicerias Loa. Cempa organized pop-up testing sites in Hamilton, Rhea, and Bradley Counties, before partnering with La Paz Chattanooga and Alleo Health Systems to provide permanent testing sites in Chattanooga.

The award was given to Cempa by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative.