Champion ETC

Lorene Hansen - Department of Corrections, WA

Lorene is the Policy/Public Disclosure Coordinator for Airway Heights Corrections Center. She has been the ETC since March 2019 and markets her program to nearly 850 employees.

AHCC offers fully subsidized Rideshare fares, Emergency Ride Home, compressed work schedules, and secured bike storage to their employees. Lorene sets a good example by walking her talk. She’s carpooled in the past and most recently began Ridesharing. She also works a compressed work schedule and occasionally works from home.

Since taking over the role of ETC, Lorene, along with her co-ETC Nicole Freese-Turns have been instrumental in ramping up their program. In March of ’19 they had 10 people updating their calendar. Last month, they had 74! She’s also added 5 new Rideshares in the last 2 years.

Lorene is passionate about their program. She loves interacting with employees and talking about what commute options may work for them. Helping problem solve any barriers they may have. Lorene’s been able to have employees shift their start times to accommodate the use of a commute option because of strong leadership support.

Lorene’s greatest challenge is that with her facility open 24/7, it’s hard for her to reach the 1st shift staff (10pm-6am). Most of their communications are via email, which slows down providing them information quickly.

Lorene’s proudest moment was receiving the Pinnacle award in 2023. She took their program that didn’t even qualify in 2019 to Silver in 2023, missing gold by only 1 point.

Lorene’s words of wisdom, “Be patient and positive and you will reap great results!”