The Employee of the Month Award recognizes the people you love to work with. These winners show exceptional performance as defined by the network’s Standards of Behavior, live out the network’s values, and demonstrate the healing presence practices outlined in Called to Care.
You can read the nomination stories and view the pictures of the July Employees of the Month below. Congratulations to all of our recipients!
Jeff Fraley – IS Technical Management, ASB
“As the senior storage administrator and subject matter expert (SME) for data storage, Jeff always keeps the guest in the center of his work, which ultimately supports exceptional patient experience. Jeff lives all the standards of behavior daily. He collaborates with diverse team members, is innovative and trustworthy, always eager to learn and share knowledge to accomplish the necessary goal. Jeff builds trusting and accepting relationships with coworkers. Jeff is open and engaged in learning from others and collaborating. In one specific collaboration wait times are being reduced or removed, and processes are being simplified, without jeopardizing the security and accessibility of the data or the server. He is eager to understand the why of IT best practices becoming a ‘student’ of his co-workers to create those trusting relationships.
Recently, Jeff has been the educator and subject matter expert collaborating with the IT Imaging Services teams. During the resource constrained year of 2020, migrations of critical patient data in the Imaging Services line from older technology to new technology continued without interruption. There were many, many hours of work, collaboration, rework, education and training, clarification, modification, validation and monitoring. This was a continuous review between these experts, Jeff, Imaging, and the vendor with the focus always on the patient experience. The work required many additional hours and rework, after rework, after rework over the year, as new information was forth coming from our vendors and the team’s overall knowledge of the new technology and platform increased. Jeff completed this all very quietly in the background, keeping the data accessible always while working with in a very small margin of room as the data needs continue to grow. That work continues today and does not require as much ‘TLC’ due to the many hours of working together.”
Monica McCain – Infusion Center, Fort Hamilton Hospital
“Monica always has a smile on her face. She is always willing to help in the clinic with the patients that have ports and is always there to help with blood draws in the cancer center lab. When I have a patient and I can’t find a vein, I know I can count on her to come to the lab and find one and get the patient’s blood. That is why I call her the ‘vein whisper’. She is always able to find a vein to draw blood from. She is great with the patients and her co-workers. She always goes about her day with a smile and is in a good mood even if she is the only nurse for the cancer center clinic and she is over loaded. You would not be able to tell because she will always come and help you with a smile on her face.”
Pauline Johnson – Environmental Services, Greene Memorial Hospital
“Pauline exceeds beyond her call of duty and is a vital part of what makes Greene Memorial Hospital the special hospital it is. She never stops cleaning, but the most important thing she does is in her interaction with the patients. While cleaning patients’ rooms, she addresses the most important part of that room, the patient. She talks with them, helps open their food containers, pushes their table closer, shows them how to turn on their television, and more. And if it’s something out of her scope, she comes and gets us to make sure we can help. We are privileged to have Pauline on our team and she so deserves to be told how much we appreciate, not only her work ethic, but the heart she shares for caring for others. During rounding there are so many patients who recommend Pauline or state how surprising it is for housekeeping to address their needs. She completes our Greene Memorial Hospital family in more ways than I could possibly mention!”
Shelley Fletcher – DMI Diagnostic , Grandview Medical Center
“We have witnessed Shelley receive many hugs, flowers, and gifts over the few years I have been a part of the Dayton Medical Imaging team. We are in awe of her ability to comfort her patients and have patience for those that need the extra time and care. She routinely every month is the most remarkable employee on our Press Ganey surveys as well as has the most positive comments and the highest marks in her modality. With Shelley moved the bar even higher recently when a patient came in with the most beautiful flowers for her.
Shelley came up and was instantly greeted by her patient with a huge hug and tears, the patient told Shelley that she had saved her life! Shelley instantly could recall the patient and her exam. The patient told her story about how Shelley had shared with her a “hunch” she had during her exam. Shelley told her she needed to do additional views because she thought she could look at things a little better and save her being called to return for another exam. Shelley took initiative to do what was best for her patient. The patient came in for a routine mammogram and a couple months later she was getting ready to have treatment after her lumpectomy. The patient continued to say that her oncologist said that he was happy that the mammography tech did great work in helping to diagnose her early and had really in a sense saved her from more invasive and lengthy care. It brought us to tears hearing about how Shelley had such an impact on her life. Finally, the patient continued sharing that Shelley always chats with her and makes her feel completely comfortable. She takes the time to make her patients feel cared for and in good hands. She stated Shelley “saved my life” and “I will forever and always come back to Dayton Medical Imaging.” She will never forget that day with Shelley, and how she showed care, patience, and above all she went above and beyond.
I really believe people are sometimes born to do what they do, and Shelley was born to do this. Shelley exemplifies our Standards of Behavior daily with every patient. We have multiple patients that will drive from out of state for Shelley to do their yearly mammogram. They trust her and have built these long-lasting relationships with these DMI patients over the last 20 years. Thank you, Shelley, for always making a difference and going above and beyond with every patient, every time, every day!”
Natalie Centers – Inpatient Therapy, KBMC
“Natalie has exemplified Kettering Health’s core values by going above and beyond with patient care and assisting nursing staff with difficult patients on a daily and weekly basis. This is indicated by how frequently she receives Shooting Stars from patients. Natalie has also shown employee appreciation through starting her own initiative of staff recognition in our behavioral intensive care unit (BICU) on Tuesdays of each week. She has the patients give their nurses small treats that she provides herself, so they can show appreciation for the care they have received. Natalie frequently receives positive feedback through the form of compliments from BICU staff and shout-outs from patients for her commitment to patient care. Natalie has been called thoughtful and caring from nursing staff and has been seen going above and beyond for our sickest patients on a consistent basis. Natalie uses ‘therapeutic use of self’ techniques to motivate and engage patients even when patients are at their lowest.”
Shannon Hammons – KCMA Central Business Off, Kettering College
“Shannon has a heart for students and their financial needs. However, her heart goes beyond just money. When a student reaches out to her and shares their needs, not only does she take the time to let the director know, she spends time with that student via email or in person to just listen. She really doesn’t have to do this but recently did it with a nursing student who was having many financial and personal concerns. In addition to this, I recently asked for a rush on an item that was quite time consuming on top of her regular work. Originally, she thought she could not have it done for a week. However, she finished it in two days! I appreciate this hard work. Again, it was all for the student needs.”
Hannah Haeseker – Athletic Trainers, Kettering Medical Center
“Hannah continuously exemplifies Kettering Health values and goes above and beyond her call to duty. Hannah is always willing to volunteer for extra projects, going beyond her standard job duties to ensure needs of the organization are met. Some of the areas she has contributed to are COVID-19 testing, N-95 fit testing, special projects with the marketing team, coverage at new locations, and insurance verification, all while completing her master’s degree program. All these duties are in addition to her duties as an athletic trainer. Hannah is creative and innovative bringing new ideas that will further the mission and scope of practice of Kettering Health and the athletic training staff. She goes above the call of duty in caring for her athletes’ well-being by organizing food donations with a local church to meet the nutrition needs of athletes in need. I appreciate having a co-worker who is willing to mentor and collaborate with others and am truly inspired by her accomplishments and drive to succeed and help those around her.”
Sheri Kaldor – Kettering Behavioral Group, Kettering Physician Network
“Recently an education opportunity was identified in the triage call center at Kettering Cancer Care (KCC) after receiving a call from a patient in crisis. The staff requested more information on how to handle patients in mental health crisis over the phone. I approached Sheri to gather information due to her experience at Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center, and she offered to come during her lunch break to meet with the medical assistants at Kettering Cancer Care. She shared her knowledge and expertise on how to respond to calls from patients in crisis. She also provided examples of when to reach out to resources in the community if patients are suicidal or in need of immediate support. After this meeting, she compiled a crisis referral list including local and national resources for the staff. As a result of this interdepartmental collaboration with Sherri, the staff has resources to feel more confident when handling calls from a patient who is experiencing a mental health crisis. This will improve the safety and experience of patients calling Kettering Cancer Care triage center.”
Patricia Thomas – HIMS Release of Information, Prestige
“Pat has served our patients and requestors for over 30 years in our network health information management (HIM) department with their release of information needs. She consistently provides the highest level of customer service to meet our vision as a faith-based organization, along with the promise to follow in the steps of Jesus by guiding every person with empathy and compassion. Pat is dedicated to supporting the spiritual and emotional well-being of all she assists in her role in this department. I recently received a voicemail from a requestor who asked that I recognize Pat for her interaction with assisting him with his health information needs. He stated that she was the most pleasant person he’d ever spoken with and was very thorough instructing him through the process. He said, ‘You don’t get much of that anymore’. I want to recognize Pat for her outstanding customer service and interpersonal skills over the years in Release of Information. We are blessed to have her on our team!”
Douglas Mcewan – Environmental Services, Sycamore Medical Center
“Any time that we need Doug to get extra areas or checkouts, he jumps right on it. He has regularly come to me to ask for more things to do, when he has that done, he comes back and asks for more. He has asked me to send him discharges with a half an hour left in his shift and he jumped right on it with no hesitation. I have no doubt that if I send Doug in to do something, it will be done to the highest standards of quality. His actions keep our turnaround times on checkouts down and his ‘can do’ attitude and attention to detail means that we don’t have to worry about anything when he is on the job. He also lightens the mood with his humor, making him a joy to have around. I feel that all of these make him the perfect candidate for Employee of the Month.”
Allison Newland – Pharmacy, Soin Medical Center
“Allison was in the Soin Cafe buying a drink. She was in line behind a visitor who was here at the hospital for her dad. The visitor shared that her dad had been in and out of surgeries, was currently in the ICU, and was placed on a ventilator. She was visibly flustered, asking questions of where things were in the Cafe, the prices of items, and other things. Allison paid for the visitor’s total with her badge, and the visitor was so thankful. It brought a huge smile to my face to see the kindness that Allison showed this total stranger who obviously needed something good to happen, even though it was a small act. When the visitor was leaving the Cafe, she continued thanking Allison and said, ‘I love this hospital’. Just with this small act of kindness, Allison showed this visitor the mission that we all try to live out every day here at work. Her kindness and generosity in the moment really encouraged me, as an employee, and put things into perspective of why we come into work and do what we do every day.”
Danielle Pemberton – Maternity, Southview Medical Center
“Danielle is a definite role model for our organization. She is a trusted resource, she does her work with the utmost integrity, and strives to make everyone she encounters feel welcomed and supported. She has that welcoming smile and calm, caring demeanor that makes our unit shine! I can always count on Danielle to help me with any project, big or small, and I know it will be done on point and timely. If she doesn’t know the answer to something, she will not stop until she figures it out and always follows up to close the loop. She is always flexible and assists me with scheduling when there is a need to ensure coverage. Danielle is excellent in her customer service skills as well as time management. When Danielle is working, I know the day will go smoothly regardless of how busy the unit becomes. There is nothing she can’t handle, and I want her to know how valued she is and what an asset she is to Southview Maternity.”
Craig Martin – Nursing Adminstration, Troy
“Craig is always available to help with patient care no matter the task, from giving baths to starting IVs, he is always willing and helpful. Craig treats all patients with respect and kindness and it doesn’t stop there. As a co-worker, he holds the upmost respect for his team and always looks out for the best of their staffing abilities. When Craig is assisting on the unit, it greatly decreases stress of staff members who are working under challenging conditions. He is always willing to obtain labs without asking and today he requested the assistance of a nursing assistant to help him change an incontinent patient who required a complete bed change. He did so without hesitation even though it was after 6:00 a.m. He is so helpful and caring in all areas of his chosen career and we all appreciate him.”
Do you know someone who is a Kettering Health Star? Help us honor them by telling their story in the Kettering Health Stars form, located in the MyHR portal.