In May, the Partnership for Public Service, a locally-based non-profit organization, announced 33 finalists for the Service to America Medals.

The "Sammies" honor federal workers who have shown a commitment to public service and who have made the agencies they work for stronger.

Heidi King, director of the Patient Safety Solutions Center at the Department of Defense, and James Battles, a social science analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services, are finalists for the Citizen Services medal.

They discussed their work with Capital Insider.