People, Stars

Check Out Our June Employees of the Month

Read Time: 15 mins

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 see the photos of the June Employees of the Month below. Congratulations to all of our recipients!

Steven Sprauer – IS Business Solutions, ASB

“Working with Steve has always been a great experience. He is innovative and very knowledgeable in the services he provides. Steve has a way of processing what is being asked of him and often thinks out of the box to spin it in a way that makes more sense than the original ask. Recently, I was asked to lead out the Epic quarterly update and my goal was to standardize the process and utilize automation in ServiceNow for the work that needs to be done. Steve was able to process what I was asking for and found an even better way of accomplishing it than I was proposing. Essentially, he created a catalog item that pulls data from the request form directly into the records that are automatically created for the project lead. In addition to that, he was able to auto generate several story records (over 95 at this point) for several application teams. The amount of time and effort this has taken off several users on application teams is immeasurable. Through Steve’s wisdom and innovation, he was able to help the network streamline the work involved when Epic updates are installed. Aside from being innovative, Steve is an awesome person and a heck of developer! It was an excellent experience working with him and I’m looking forward to working with him in the future.”

Dee Horvath – IMC Intermediate Care, Fort Hamilton Hospital

“Dee is an amazing nurse and takes charge of IMC. She gives amazing patient care and treats each patient and family member as if they were her own. She gives and expects a high standard of care to all patients while giving amazing support to her staff, even under sometimes difficult conditions. Dee is strong, supportive, and never denies anyone help or reference. She has a tender heart and much compassion and empathy. Everyone feels safe and supported in Dee’s care! She considers patients and staff her responsibility. She will make time for every person or situation no matter what and she is always willing lend a hand even though she may be busy or behind schedule. She is supportive of new staff, floats, and travelers and makes them feel at ease. She is a very humble leader who deserves more credit than she will take. She is a true asset to Kettering Health and we are lucky to have her!”

Alisia Wylie – CT, Greene Memorial Hospital

“I walked by CT and saw Alisia holding the hand of a patient in a private sitting area. She was comforting her patient and calming her before her testing. The patient had received some emotionally distressing news and was becoming overwhelmed. Alisia sat down, took her hand, and spoke quietly with her. About twenty minutes pass and surprisingly, they come wheeling around the corner joking and all smiles. Alisia wrapped her in warm blankets, finished her imaging, and then wheeled her all the way out to her car on a rainy day so that the patient didn’t have to struggle to get to her car. The patient appeared to have her entire outlook on the day transformed by one caring and selfless technologist. The patient that came to us sad and dejected left laughing, hugging, and thanking Alisia! Alisia is a positive, caring, and inspirational ray of sunshine in our organization. People naturally flock around her and are inspired to provide the same level of care for their patients. She is a natural leader and an amazing professional in her field. The level of care that she puts into every one of her patients, the respect and teamwork she encourages in the staff, and the competence level she continues to elevate in our profession are the reasons I nominate this young lady for Employee of the Month.”

David Bell – Materials Distribution, Grandview Medical Center

“David never stops living the mission of his role in our organization. He far exceeds his job role expectation in ensuring departments outside of his own are cared for and have everything they need to give the best care possible to our patients. He never rests with, “What’s good enough” or the minimum job expectation, but rather embraces going beyond what’s expected to help our department have what we need to deliver amazing care to the population we serve. I have had many, “Oh man, I forgot to ask for that” moments, and I will have to text David on his personal cellphone at 7pm to ask him for an item. He promptly replies and assures me that first thing the next morning he will make sure it gets to my facility. David keeps our department running, stocked with all the supplies we need, and assures our patients have the supplies they need to receive the excellent care that Kettering Health and our ER staff provide day in and day out. With David’s attitude and constant striving to exceed his job role, our department never goes without the materials we need to care for our patients.”

Oscar Sherrod – Acute Adult Unit, KBMC

“Oscar has routinely been a strong stalwart on the behavioral ICU where he works around the clock to be helpful, supportive, selfless, and a dedicated teammate on and off the unit.  Oscar checks in on staff’s aches and pains, offering to provide information for pain relieving techniques that he has learned over years of studying alternative therapies.  He is courageous, never refusing a task or directive, and offers experienced counsel when needed.  Seeing him on duty gives me a sense of strong support and unwavering commitment to the KBMC mission. His impact is demonstrated by his leadership to the new mental health technicians, his ingenuity when demonstrating healthy movement techniques to alleviate fatigue, and his knowledge of the position of the mental health technician.  He is a friend to many through his laughter, lighthearted style, and his no-nonsense strength as a capable co-worker.   He supports his teammates outside of the workplace and is a central component to the bond we have with our co-workers.  He has a lot to offer and I hope KBMC can continue to benefit from his many contributions to our team.”

Ellen Duncil – Foundation Administration, Kettering Medical Center

“Over the last year of canceled events due to COVID-19, we have seen our co-worker, Ellen Duncil, find new ways to be flexible and creative in the face of ever-changing demands and restrictions. Many people may not realize that many things are paid for with funds donated to the hospital foundation. The foundation’s main source of revenue is several signature events that take place each year. With the cancellation of these events due to COVID-19, Ellen has worked tirelessly to ensure that our supporters feel engaged and are able to donate to the cause while also ensuring that the foundation raises these crucial dollars that support patient and equipment needs. Ellen has worked long hours putting together new virtual programming that is engaging and timely. This has required a lot of research, learning software and systems, and a lot of hours to put it all together into a seamless event. Ellen has shifted numerous events to be on-line while still planning for future in-person events which requires a lot of contingency planning. Ellen does all this work with a smile and does not complain or even mention the many long days and nights she has put into these reimagined virtual events that have been a great success. We’ve all had difficulties due to COVID-19 and as an events person, the nature of Ellen’s job has completely changed. She has handled it all with grace and a positive attitude. Ellen’s work positively impacts others because the foundation can continue our main purpose which is assisting others. Without in-person events, the foundation has had to shift much of its fundraising online. From Pinktober, a fully integrated day-long telethon, the Walk for Women’s Wellness, and the Kettering College reception, Ellen has put together virtual programs that keep our friends and donors engaged and giving. Through this giving, the foundation can maintain its level of assistance to patients and the community. The effects of her actions are far-reaching. Ellen is very kind and approachable. She is an asset to her profession and to our team.”

Courtney Sewell – Nursing, Kettering College

“Courtney is an extraordinary employee. Courtney is never without a smile or a hand to help. She never turns down work or a challenge. Another member of the Nursing division also nominated Courtney for all the support she gave to setup and teardown during the poster presentation, and for her positive demeanor that exemplifies the Kettering Health culture. During the pandemic, Courtney has been instrumental in moving files from the shared drive to Teams and become the pre-nursing advisor. She knows where every file, digital or paper, is in the division of nursing and if she can’t find it, it is not to be found. Courtney likes to learn and has recently taken more education on Microsoft Teams. In the past month alone, she has helped with setting up Zoom for faculty at the church, taken on all the pre-nursing students for advising, and continued to do her assistant job for me without a flaw. On top of this, she has volunteered to be on the service learning committee and has helped another leader here at Kettering College and the online committee with moving all the online committee files to Teams. Faculty loves working with Courtney. I really don’t know how I would have survived my first year as Dean without her. You are the best Courtney!”

Amanda Brunk – PC Xenia Progress, Kettering Physician Network

“Amanda is always upbeat and is willing to drop anything she is doing to help all the medical assistants in our office. She never acts like she is over us, but one of us. She is a total team player. She is an amazing clinical supervisor and goes above and beyond to make sure that we are not drowning. I support two providers in our office, and I don’t even have to ask for her help. She always just jumps in to help with running one of the two providers and starts pulling the patients back and rooming them for me if I am double booked. Amanda will run specimens and take things over to the lab, she will pull our scanning, anything she can do to help. She is not only an amazing person, but she is a great asset to our office and we would be lost without her! I want her to be recognized for all she does. I know I’m missing many other things that she does, but she deserves to be awarded. We love her and the help she gives is beyond words. She truly embodies the spirit of the Kettering way in all she does with caring, compassion, and love for her job and her staff! We would be lost without her.”

Michael Jordan – Staffing Resource Office, Prestige

“Mick took over a long-held position from another team member who retired. The individual built the API program for scheduling and was the only employee that had been in that role. Mick has taken over and really made the position his own. I receive constant feedback from other departments mentioning how quickly Mick is to respond and help them with their issues. He has consistently gone over and beyond to meet timelines and deadlines for projects and reports that were needed around the network. He has made a positive impact not only in the staffing office but also for the other time and attendance approvers and managers from around the network. Mick is incredibly collaborative, he can often be found traveling to a campus to meet with a time and attendance approver who is having difficulty and the Teams meeting option isn’t meeting their needs. He is incredibly quick to respond and goes over and beyond to assist leadership with their questions.”

Kelsey Wilson – Social Services, Sycamore Medical Center

“Kelsey is a motivated and energetic social worker who sees an opportunity for improvement and works on improving the situation or process. She works to meet our network goal of decreasing long observations for patients. For one patient, she wanted to help get them discharged to their nursing home timely and within a 24-hour stay at the hospital, but transportation was a barrier.  She was able to secure safe transportation with security and she attended the transport to support and comfort the patient. They traveled to Sycamore Glen and were able to avoid an additional overnight at the hospital by having the patient arrive within 24-hours being away from the nursing home. The nursing home requires a pre-certification for patients over 24 hours, which can take 1-2 days to obtain. Kelsey worked with numerous departments in the hospital to make this happen. Having the patient transition back to her ‘home’ was the best plan for the patient rather than staying additional nights in the hospital. Kelsey’s quick ideas and methods impact our patients and communities by helping them get to where they need to get in a timely manner. Kelsey helps patients and families by talking with them about options for care and works daily with folks who have a difficult time making those decisions. She develops close relationships with these patients and families who call her several times a day discussing options and plans, especially if they are end of life or challenging changes that need more support. Kelsey is always thinking of the next plan and jumps on opportunities and ideas that will help these patients and families achieve their goals. Thank you, Kelsey, for living out our mission so well!”

Rhonda Ketterer – MED Surg 2, Soin Medical Center

“A man was brought to the ED for treatment.  His neighbor drove him and his wife to the hospital. The wife has dementia and wandered off while the husband was being treated. Rhonda led a search for the woman and found her walking around the lakes by the condos. Rhonda brought the woman back to Soin and reunited her with her husband. Rhonda said that she just had a feeling that the lady had left the building. I am so glad that Rhonda followed her instincts. Being a screener is such a challenging job and Rhonda does it so well! We are so grateful to have her here. As a screener, Rhonda is pleasant to work with. She works cooperatively with all the staff and is kind to folks entering the building. This example shows Rhonda went above and beyond to find a guest at our facility with dementia. Who knows how it might have turned out had she not acted.”

Nichole Schweickart – Maternity, Southview Medical Center

“Nichole is constantly helping other nurses, even when she is busy being in charge and busy with triage patients. Just last week, I had a patient that had an emergency c-section and Nichole came in and helped me get her ready so we could get the baby out quickly. She came in without me even asking for help. She stayed in the operating room with me, helped me get the patient-controlled analgesia pump ready, and even did some of the delivery record for me. I appreciated that so much because I knew the recovery portion would be stressful. But with all her help, I didn’t feel as stressed and I could focus on taking care of the patient rather than thinking about all the charting I needed to do. Nichole is also a huge asset to the bereavement aspect of our job on labor and delivery. She routinely volunteers to take fetal demises even when it’s not her turn. She helps with questions and even comes in on her days off to help with paperwork. All of this is so appreciated. I don’t want her work to go unnoticed because I know that a lot of us on this unit appreciate all she does for us. Nichole is constantly looking out for others before herself. She impacts the unit positively, because she is always willing to help and just jump in even without being asked! We all love her hard work and she needs to be recognized for all that she does for the unit.”

Beth Langenkamp – ICU, Troy

“Beth is a very positive person and will do anything to help someone out. When a new admission arrives to the unit, she is the first one asking if we need help. She will always be the first person to ask if they can do something for you. She is caring, and the patients love her. She goes above and beyond to help the patients and staff. If someone is in observation, she will go out of her way to make sure that nurse gets the help that he or she needs. She lifts the spirits of the team and helps in any way she can to make it a good night. Her positive attitude and willingness to help radiate throughout the unit and makes everyone else want to continue the positive attitude. She is a major asset to our team and some nights we couldn’t make it without her!”

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.

June 30, 2021
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