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!
Steven Brun – Clinical Decision Support, Prestige
“Steve was a crucial part of helping to fix what could have been an almost $1 million dollar missed opportunity. He dropped everything he was doing to load data into a third-party system which he is one of few that have access to do. Not only did he make it a priority, but he was thorough by checking to make sure that what was being loaded was coming out correctly. Steve’s attention to detail and work ethic are highly valued on his team and we literally could not have done this without him.”
Tara Walker – Epic Clinical Analyst II, ASB
Tara exemplified leadership in troubleshooting an issue we found in our Epic upgrade testing. She led the investigation with several others and Epic all while our analysts were continually testing the remaining items for our Quarterly Upgrade. Thanks to Tara stepping up, she was able to lead the investigation into the defect, communicate the risk to IS Quality Assurance, and learn how to edit LWS records that resolved the defect all solely to ensure our test environment was working. Not to mention, Tara was actively training a new analyst on testing processes and responsibilities for the orders team. Her leadership and commitment to earn helped us solve this issue.”
Clarence “Joe” Brown – Police & Security, FHH
Officer Clarence Brown responded to a call of two large dogs running loose in the main parking lot of Fort Hamilton. At this time of day, the parking was busy with visitors and patients coming in and out of the hospital. Joe deescalated a situation with the dogs to protect the visitors and patients, and ultimately sustained a trauma injury to his pinky finger doing so. Joe showed bravery and courage as his actions saved the lives of people who would have been attacked by this dog if he had not responded. We are lucky to have him on our team.”
Katherine Spencer – ICU, SV
“Katie is a consummate professional, always remaining calm and decisive in any patient care or charge nurse situation. Katie has also instructed multiple new nurses this past year, and is currently working with a student from WSU. Her contributions to this quarter’s meeting allowed the approval of new medications, rather than pushing the agenda items to the next quarter’s meeting. Regardless of the situation, she always remains in control and seeks enough timely information to make the right decisions for our patients and staff.”
Christina Garrity – OP Neurorehab & Balance C, KMC
“Christina is an innovative therapist, who is dedicated to moving our facility forward to be recognized both locally and nationwide as an elite therapy facility. In order to do this, Christina has developed a research study at the NeuroRehab and Balance Center, for which she has been named the lead investigator. Christina has taken on this task with enthusiasm and passion and has done an excellent job educating our staff to ensure the project is done correctly. She is also an excellent mentor, always willing to help her co-workers and fellow staff members. Christina strives to make each and every one of us better clinicians, which is why it’s an honor to work with her.”
Andrea Berrien – Family Practice Clinic, KPN
“We recently saw a patient with her children in the office and Andrea had recognized the patient as someone struggling with a potential domestic issue from previous appointments. Andrea roomed the patient and asked her how everything was going and the patient voiced a fear of going home and shared some details that caused concern. Andrea immediately notified the practice manager and both doctors seeing the patient that day. It was determined that we needed to report some issues. Andrea was a crucial reason the patient felt comfortable sharing their fears. Andrea’s attention to detail and persistence to care for this family made a world of difference for the patient and family.”
Carolyn Irwin – Rehab Medicine, SMC
“Carolyn was doing routine therapy with a patient when she noticed something was off. She requested the RN to come see the patient, and because of her excellent assessment skills we were able to call a stroke alert. When the doctor came in Carolyn stood behind her evaluation and advocated for the patient that something was happening. Because of her persistence we got an MRI and found that the patient did in fact have a critical issue and we were able to get them the treatment they needed. Carolyn demonstrated competent and caring in this interaction, and her advanced skills helped a patient get to the correct level of care they needed.”
Nadine Landess – Float Pool, Soin
Nadine always goes above and beyond for her patients and her co-workers. The most recent example was over the weekend when there was not a radiologist nurse scheduled. The physician had a very busy schedule at another hospital on Saturday and had not made it here before the end of Nadine’s shift. Nadine offered to stay over late and wait for him to arrive to do the procedure for the benefit of the patient. Nadine stayed to help two hours past her shift knowing that no one else was available to help get this patient taken care of. Nadine went above and beyond for both her co-workers and this patient this weekend and deserves to be recognized for all she does for this hospital every shift she works.”
Amy Cunningham – Co-Occurring Unit, KBMC
“Amy created a fidget spinner out of origami paper at home and brought the project to work. She brought all the materials to teach the patients how to make one of their own. Amy puts a lot of time and thought into caring for her patients and more than just meeting their needs, as she anticipates what they may like and delivers. The fidget spinners were a big hit and something that our patients on the co-occurring unit could use. She is always ready and willing to help.”
Mehgan Viernes – Credentialed Medical Assistant, GV
“Meghan takes ownership of her role, her patients and the practice as a whole. Her hunger to learn and grow in the oncology space allows her to find moments of opportunity for education right at her fingertips with her peers. Meghan takes initiative to mentor our Medical Assistance here at Kettering Cancer Care Troy. Throughout the day, Mehgan periodically checks in with other team members and offers help when another employee may struggle. It is a blessing to have her as part of our team.”
Caitlin Benson – Care Management, Troy
“Caitlin has been a phenomenal asset to the Troy Hospital and community. She is knowledgeable regarding local resources and strives to meet the identified needs of her patients. It is not uncommon for her to make multiple calls in and out of state to connect our patient’s with needed specialty care. When it was identified we did not have an assigned heart failure educator, or a defined way to arrange for home oxygen, she filled the need by reaching out to diabetes and CHF educators to learn their processes so she could fill that need for our patients. She is always cheerful, positive and has that ‘can do’ attitude where rather than asking ‘why?’, she asks ‘why not?’.”
Kate Hobbs – Case Management, GMH
“Kate has been working with adult protective services on a patient for several months. This patient was challenging due to compliance issues that stem from memory loss. She manages to assist the patient in reminding them of their condition so that they received the medical care they needed. Kate has kept APS updated every time patient has come into the ED so they have been able to care for patient in the community. Kate is an exemplary person who remains professional, calm and advocates for her patients’ needs.”
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.