People, Stars

Check Out the March Employees of the Month

Read Time: 12 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 March Employees of the Month below. Congratulations to all of our recipients!

Kelly Johnson –  IS Digital Experience, ASB

“I would love to recognize Kelly Johnson for the work and hours she has devoted to our community vaccine clinics in preparation for their go-live.  Kelly has worked well above the ‘normal’ business hours, including late night and weekend hours in Epic programming to support this huge initiative. All while working extra and long hours, she maintained her positive and upbeat attitude. Kelly’s willingness to work above any expectations with such a positive attitude has been a great joy working with her on this project.”

Elizabeth Eschenbrenner –  Food Services, Fort Hamilton Hospital

“A young man in our department didn’t have a winter coat despite riding his bike from across town each night for work. When Lizzie found out, she went and bought the young man a winter coat and took it to his house in between working here and at her full-time job. Lizzie truly has the heart of an angel. She goes out of her way to check in on both patients and coworkers to ensure all of us are taken care of. Lizzie works full time at a long-term care facility as a social worker but picks up shifts here in culinary whenever she is asked. Lizzie has worked in our department for over five years and comes in each shift with a positive attitude and a willingness to help in any way possible.”

Katharine Blocher – Cedarville Family Practice, Greene Memorial Hospital

“Katie is truly a champion for rural health care. She is invested in the community and knows and cares for the patients in the area. She has marketed the providers in the office in various manners.  Her expertise in scheduling and billing assists the providers and front office schedulers to make sure that we are scheduling and billing appropriately. Katie keeps us on task for meeting the network goal and recommended best practice for increasing our Medicare wellness visits by 40% this year. In personal, professional, and financial aspects, Katie is incredibly valuable to our office. I am very fortunate to be able to work with her.”

Lenesia Boddie – Human Resources, Grandview Medical Center

“I mentor Lenesia and we talk monthly about a variety of topics. Last month we had a rich discussion about Diversity and Inclusion and what Kettering Health Network is doing to move us forward as an organization. She has some very relevant stories of experiences from her own background and those stories she hears from other employees since she works in HR.  I was so inspired by her passion, I asked her to present to my team during our devotional time on Monday morning. Len took time to prepare a presentation and had some great examples so we can be aware. She also offered resources to help us be advocates going forward. Len gave us examples of what Kettering Health Network is doing to bring forward a more diverse and inclusive culture at Kettering Health Network, including working with Josefer Montes. I’m so thankful for my mentor/mentee relationship with Len. We learn from each other and I feel very blessed to call her a friend. Len’s positive attitude and candid, but tactful, delivery help people feel comfortable talking with her. She models the standards of behavior at Kettering Health Network and has a very kind spirit.”

Sheena Whittemore – Adult Psych, Kettering Behavioral Medicine Center

“Last month, Sheena came into my office and explained that we have a patient in the building who cannot reach anyone to help with her dog. The patient was admitted on Saturday and her dog had not been let out or fed/watered since that time. It was now Tuesday. Sheena explained that they reached out to the patient’s ex-husband who was refusing to answer calls or help.  The patient also reached out to her landlord, but there was tension there and he was unable to discuss the situation.  I was on another meeting at the time and instructed Sheena to call Patient Relations.  Patient Relations and Legal reviewed the request to save the dog.  The patient documented permissions for the dog in the record and staff made sure it was witnessed by multiple members of the team.  City of Kettering Police and Kettering Hospital Security went with Sheena to the house.  The dog was saved.  The pup stayed with Sheena until discharge.  At discharge the puppy, crate, and all the items for the puppy were dropped off at KBMC for the patient to take at discharge.  Sheena listened to her patient’s needs and met those needs by saving her little dog who was stranded and alone.  This helped the patient focus on treatment instead of worrying about other things.”

Kristine Flais – Sports Medicine – Far Hill, Kettering Medical Center

“Kristine makes a positive impact in our department and the lives of the community. She draws our team together for a service event with full department participation. Kristine organizes our ‘Adopt a Family’ project every year.  We always have an entire room full of gifts.  There is always almost full department participation. The ‘Christmas Adopt a Family’ brings many departments together and it is a tremendous success. Kristine is a natural leader and this act of giving helps our department serve. Our department has also gone through a change in management and a network reorganization. During this, Kristine has been a positive voice for change. Kristine has put in star awards for coworkers, given shout outs in staff meetings, and has been positive in bringing the team together.”

Britney Bart – Community Outreach, Prestige

“Britney is an inspiration for so many in Community Outreach and across the network. She exudes positivity and creates a culture of teamwork. She has been a business development, client liaison, project manager, and motivator for a variety of significant network projects. She has a true gift of connecting and motivating individuals and departments to achieve a complicated result. Recently she has created a partnership with Kettering Physician Network to provide both on-site and near-site clinics for local corporations. This work entailed bringing together brokers, corporate executives, providers, Kettering Health Network administration, and Kettering Physician Network administration. In a project manager role, she has led the development of firefighter testing packages and other major pricing projects. In addition, Britney has been a leader in the start-up of four COVID-19 testing locations. These startups have involved the integration and coordination of over ten departments. The inspiration she provides has been integral to the success of each project. When faced with challenges, Britney’s first instinct is to find a solution. She is an integral component to the success of our department and network. Britney is a shining beacon. When she enters the room or arrives on a conference call she greets each person in a caring manner. She creates positive connections with her co-workers and they each know she truly cares about their well-being.”

Jocelyn Skeans – Social Services, Sycamore Medical Center

“Jocelyn has been a huge help this past year in helping to cover our units at Sycamore. She is exceptional when it comes to our standards of behavior. She anticipates the needs of the patient, family, and the nursing unit. She often exceeds service expectations creatively. For example, Jocelyn has gone above and beyond at times to obtain equipment from the nursing home to help a patient, coordinating time to meet the liaison to help the patient with his equipment to discharge timely. Jocelyn also works as a HUC on Unit 1 when they need help with the phones and navigating calls. She uses the walkie-talkie for communication every day to make sure she is connecting with everyone including the PCTs, nurses, HUCs, and others. The staff appreciates both actions that she has just jumped in to do to support the nursing unit.  Jocelyn has jumped in to help with challenging assignments and covering numerous units for the team. She helped us initiate the new COVID-19 monitoring program and is very knowledgeable about the disease process and medication regimen. She takes the lead in looking for opportunities to support, recognize, and celebrate team work with care management and her Unit 1 and 3W teams.  The 3W COVID-19 team expressed positive feedback about Jocelyn’s approach, interventions, and follow up. Unit 1 and 3West have submitted Network Stars about her writing the quote of the day, making them laugh, and buying them candy to help through the day. She brings joy to everyone in our care management department and the nursing units to help them through their day too. Dr. Harvey also mentioned Jocelyn during our safety huddle recently. She has done a great job leading the team as the Primary Care Manager and in the supporting role with her RN Care Manager side by side.”

Teresa Barnard – Case Management, Soin Medical Center

“Teresa lives the mission of Kettering Health Network every day by conveying God’s love in a caring environment to improve the quality of life of the patients she manages. Teresa expresses this through her faith and keeping the patient at the center of her care. She has led the team in prayer during morning huddles more times than I can count. She has often done the same with patients and families. This has especially been the case when covering Med Surg 3 during the pandemic when sometimes the first, last, and only resort for the patient and family was to bend a knee and refer to prayer.

During the pandemic Teresa faced many challenges and prevailed while smiling each time. She did this while also building a stronger work process for covering units remotely, arranging follow up appointments, and implementing the COVID home monitoring program.

Teresa is a true patient advocate by being an active listener. She had a patient who had been having multiple readmissions for a variety of reasons, but the cause was rooted back to medication compliance. After further diving into the patient’s background she was able to find out that the patient was not making the best monetary decisions which led to poor health control due to the lack of medications. Teresa soothingly told the man that it is okay to ask for help and proceeded to assess his barriers and provide help. By creating a bond with him, she was able to provide the trust that this man was lacking for some time. Teresa even offered to cover the cost of his medications to get him started for a month. The patient has since not been readmitted and is now established with a primary care provider.

Teresa positively effects everyone she is around simply by being herself. She lifts everyone up every time she prays, brings a smile to your face in each conversation, provides meaningful feedback, and identifies areas of opportunity. She is not afraid to ask questions or give suggestions. Teresa jumps in at every chance to assist her team, even if that meant putting whatever she needed to complete on pause. She has completed prior authorizations when a teammate is drowning with other issues, covered multiple floors at the same time while someone was out sick, and was the first to pilot some new initiatives. She became an inspiring mentor to some of the new staff members through preceptorship. The peers that she has trained have all expressed to me that they believe orientation would have taken a lot longer if Teresa did not take the time to explain and show them how to complete the new initiatives.”

Nancy Hambright – Endoscopy, Southview Medical Center

“Nancy keeps our department flowing all day. She is a great leader and co-worker and is quick to help out any time. It took me almost a year of working here to realize that she is supposed to have a day off every other week. That’s just a small statement to acknowledge how willing she is to fill in the gap. These past two weeks we have had a real staffing crisis and Nancy has been there to fill in for other staff members who had to be off for different unexpected reasons. She has picked up shifts, picked up calls, and stayed long hours to make sure the needs of the department were met. Nancy is just a great example of dedication to the job and the needs of the department. Her willingness to help out at any time is over the top. She is wonderful to work with and the patients all love and appreciate her too. Nancy is also a great mentor to new employees and visitors. She is a wealth of knowledge and such a hard worker.”

Karen Wolfe – Environmental Services, Troy Hospital

“Karen goes above and beyond her duty to keep a clean and safe environment for all the patients at Troy Hospital. She will not pass dirt or trash without picking it up, whether it’s throughout the hospital or in a patient’s room. She is a natural nurturer of the environment. In her work environment, she knows it is important to have a germ-free environment for the safety of her patients. She will go back and re-clean a room that someone else has already cleaned if she feels it is not up to standard. She has a huge impact on the patients that are already immune compromised with infections at the hospital. By keeping a clean environment, she is preventing the spread of bacteria and viruses to others including patients, staff, and visitors that could take the illnesses out to the community. She is more of an ‘infection control minion’ rather than environmental services.”

Do you know someone who is a Network Star? Help us honor them by telling their story in the Network Stars form, located in the MyHR portal.

April 6, 2021