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 November Employees of the Month below. Congratulations to all of our recipients!
Suzanne Stewart – IS Ambulatory Support, ASB
“Our team received a message that a provider received a new badge and was unable to use the computer or sign for medications while in the office. We contacted Client Services to see if they could enroll the providers badge in Carelink 7. We received a message stating that this was not possible as CSS didn’t have a computer set up with CL7. The next morning, Suzanne drove back to the office at the ASB and picked up our tablet which had CL7 information. She then drove to Springfield to help the provider get their badge enrolled. Suzanne went out of her way to make sure the provider had the access needed to help so the patients had the best experience possible with the provider. This task took three hours including the drive time to and from the practice. This is just one example of Suzanne’s commitment and dedication. Suzanne displays teamwork and collaboration, and this is just one example.”
Aneita Bean – Materials Distribution, Fort Hamilton Hospital
“Aneita is, without a doubt, the absolute most vital employee to the success of the ER. Aneita not only ensures the ER is stocked and ready to take on the day, but she also goes above and beyond by being friendly and personable. She will run us up whatever we need at the drop of a hat, understanding that sometimes it literally is life or death here, and we truly take her for granted way more often than we should. Aneita goes above and beyond every single day. She has set a ‘new normal’ for us with her standards of practice and behavior, and we are always grateful when she is on to take care of us. Aneita does not do any patient or bedside care whatsoever, but she is the ‘man behind the curtain’ so to speak, that helps us save lives every single day. We could call down looking for the most obscure item or kit and Aneita knows exactly what we want and brings it up stat every time. She keeps us well-stocked so that we are prepared for any and all codes, strokes, traumas, and whatever else may walk through our doors. Undoubtedly, we could NOT survive without her, and we feel her absence when she is not working.”
Leroy Dickens – Environmental Services, Greene Memorial Hospital
“Leroy is the floor technician here at Greene Memorial Hospital. He has the best attitude when he’s at work and always has a smile under that mask. Leroy never hesitates to help any of his co-workers, and he has a very high standard when it comes to his job. All his hard work and dedication, extra hours during HFAP, and loving what he does shows. I have received several compliments on how great our floors look and shine! Leroy exemplifies the KHN values in every way. He shows compassion in that he is willing to be a help to others. I have never seen him have a bad day and he always finds the good in all situations.”
Lisa Meyers – Emergency Room, Grandview Medical Center
“Lisa is always advocating on behalf of her patients. She stepped up and is the chair for our Unit council that is over all of Preble County Medical Center. She is always volunteering to take part in department process improvement measures. She is passionate about PI projects that are complex to help the population we serve have better outcomes as well as revenue capture. This past week, a fellow employee recognized her with a shooting star for leaving work to go buy a psychiatric patient a hot breakfast from McDonalds. The patient had been held in our department for 36 hours, due to current network admission and transport constraints, and she felt compelled to bring him comfort that wasn’t a cold turkey sandwich and crackers. Her love for her patients, our community, her fellow employees, and our facility is always on display with her actions of compassion. I could not be more proud to have her on my team!”
Zachary Richmond – Evaluation Services, KBMC
“Zach has grown very quickly during his tenure at the network. He is kind and respectful in all his interactions. Where Zach excels is with the key areas of collaboration and caring. Zach has already completed 58 Telehealth assessments to other sites. My Fort Hamilton Hospital staff is the first to respond to Middletown ED. Feedback from that staff about Zach is always positive. He has shown a willingness to work over, adjust his schedule, and move to different sites when needed during these challenging times. Zach uses his sense of humor to navigate stressful situations and his work ethic is excellent.”
Rachelle Janning – Occupational Therapy, Kettering College
“Rachelle is always thinking outside the box and using her creative OT brain to help our patients and staff. We are all wearing masks now and our patients have forgotten what our faces look like. Shelly had an idea of getting buttons with our face on them. Rachelle took on this project, brought her camera in to the clinic and took pictures. She then ordered three inch buttons that we can wear on our jackets, shirts, or badges that have a picture of our faces sans mask! We have gotten so many positive comments from our patients. Rachelle is such an asset to NeuroRehab, and now to Kettering College as a professor. She focuses on what is best for patients and is always first to help our colleagues. Rachelle brings in flowers from her garden for staff for all special occasions – new babies, birthdays, upcoming nuptials. She has ‘rose colored glasses’ on all the time and only sees the good in everyone. We could all benefit from more Rachelles.”
Allison Weeks – Medical Rehab Unit, Kettering Medical Center
“Allie is an exceptional PT. She is a lifelong learner and recently received her certification as a specialist in working with the neuro population. Not only is she an excellent clinician, she is eager to share her knowledge with others in and outside her own discipline. Allie is a strong advocate for her patients. Like many of my staff, she often goes above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that all her patient’s needs are being met. One time she literally gave a patient her shoes…yes, she took them off her body…so the patient could walk safely while participating in therapy.”
Heather Lovely – PC Xenia Progress, Kettering Physician Network
“Heather created a treasure chest for pediatric patients to choose from after receiving vaccines or a procedure. Heather purchased with her own money various girl and boy, age-appropriate gifts/toys to help make the visit to our office a less traumatic experience. The patients as well as the parents appreciate this kind gesture from the office as Heather assumes no self-gratitude. Heather commented, ‘It brings me great joy to see the patient’s expression when picking out a toy after they are checking out in tears.’ This quickly turns their visit around into a positive one.”
Dale Hill – Human Resources, Prestige
“I was getting ready to have surgery and had been receiving conflicting, and upsetting, information about short term disability and use of PTO. Dale took the time to explain my questions about PTO. She also took the time to look into other questions I had. I thanked her and explained my fear and frustrations. She then called me back to make sure I knew the first week was all PTO. I did know this but really appreciated her taking the extra step to reassure me. She was very kind and acknowledged my concerns and frustrations. I was feeling very defeated and unappreciated. Dale was able to help me step back, take a deep breath, and feel thankful for a job and for staff who are able to show they are caring and compassionate.”
Steven Westgerdes – Inpatient Therapy, Soin Medical Center
“Steve is always amenable and pleasant to other staff at the hospital. He has historically been a consistent and reliable patient experience performer. Steve puts his needs ahead of the patients, and this is evident by the time he spends with the patients. But if I can emphasize this point more, I will. Steve is often drafted to work with challenging patients (medically/ cognitively/ psych/ socially/ physically), complicated patients, and to fix messes. Steve, quite literally, can put points back on the board when it comes to patient experience. I have seen him do this many times over the last five years. He can take a situation that was a negative, navigate it back to neutral, and then make the patient experience positive. His ability to move this metric is invaluable to our hospital and is indicative of our dedication to core principles. Aside from being the bright spot in many a nurse’s and tech’s eye (Steve has a large fan club to put it mildly), Steve is a reminder to all to prioritize patient experience. When he sets his needle, he does not waiver.”
Janelle Byrd – Patient Access, Sycamore Medical Center
“Janelle was the only one working in patient access and they were also working shorthanded in the lab. It was a very busy day and the patients needed labs and to be in the surgery pre-op area. She had about 6 patients at one time, and was able to see the need for each one to move them along in the process. She knew we could draw labs up here if we needed to, so she took the initiative to call and request that the nurse draw the labs to move the patients along in a timely manner so they would not be late for surgery. She even brought two patients up herself and let us know what they needed so we were prepared. We were very thankful to have her quick thinking on this day. She had a smile on her face the whole time and her attitude was excellent. We were worrying about getting the patients up here in time for surgery and one phone call to Janelle and she was making things happen.”
Valerie Lovell – Assisted Living, Senior Division
“This nurse goes above and beyond for our residents and staff. She brought in cake for our caregivers just to show how much we appreciate them and the work they do. She spends every second at work working for our residents and ensuring they get the best care. Not only do the residents love her, the resident’s families love her and love how great she is with their patients, especially during a time like this when our residents are extremely lonely. She helps to boost morale of the staff and the residents, and helps our residents to feel safe and well cared for.”
Gail Nickell – Endoscopy, Southview Medical Center
“Gail is an amazing and compassionate nurse that always puts herself above others to ensure their comfort and needs are met, whether they are a patient or staff. As a charge nurse, everyone on her team lauds her ability to foster teamwork, ensuring effective communication, timely resolution of conflict, or any issues within the unit. As a team member, not only does Gail make sure her unit is staffed but has helped with patient cases and on-call at two of our other sister endoscopy units when staffing has been stretched. Gail does not dwell on the problem at hand, but actively seeks the right solution for her patients and unit. Gail is always smiling and exudes positive energy in all situations. When asking staff about things that are going well on the unit, they all recognize Gail for her efforts as a charge nurse, scheduler (the hardest job in any unit), and leader.”
Drew Guisinger – Emergency Department, Troy Hospital
“Drew has received the most Shooting Stars of any employee at Troy Hospital so far this year. Drew is recognized often by patients and coworkers:
You are always a team player and willing to drop what you are doing to help others!
Thank you for HUCing all day during a busy day with multiple consults and handling all of it well.
You are doing an excellent job with our new RN resident! Keep up the great work!
You are always helpful and a great team player. Thanks for jumping in my isolation room and helping get PT settled and blood culture done!
Thank you for staying positive on the bad days!
Thank you for all your help being our runner while intubating a potential COVID patient. It was more helpful than you know!
Always so professional with patients and keeps a smooth flow within the ED when in charge!“
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.