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 February Employees of the Month below. Congratulations to all of our recipients!
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”231″ gal_title=”Employee of the Month – February 2022″]Mary Kay Cobb – Occupational Therapy, Kettering College
“Mary is a shining example of living out the vision of Kettering Health! As the lead Office Assistant and Admissions Counselor for the Kettering Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program, she provides daily care and education with current, future, and potential students by her cordial uplifting attitude and attention to their needs — which by all accounts adds quality to their lived experience in our program. Students routinely cite one of the highlights of their tenure in the program by saying, ‘Mary Kay, she makes everything better!’ Here at the college, our students are the customer/consumer/client, so her work is very important in helping to maintain customer satisfaction. Additionally, Mary Kay is supportive of all the faculty and her peers within the department. She goes out of her way to ensure the classroom and department needs are met, going as far to anticipate what might be needed for special classes projects, events and ensuring what we need is on hand. She regularly checks-in with the team to see how she can be supportive and ensure the day-to-day ebb and flow is as seamless as possible. She has been a personal encouragement to me for difficult situations that arise that require the utmost care and strictest confidentiality. Overall, Mary Kay is a true asset to our work in the OTD program and an absolute gem to have as a co-worker. While I believe Mary is exceptional in all that she does, she embodies the value of caring! And her walk and ministry in this regard is a living testament to the vision of Kettering Health by transforming the healthcare education experience for all who work, study, and visit our department!”
Audrey Bonar – Huber Emergency Room, Kettering Health Dayton
“Audrey joined our department and identified an idea to improve our triage department. Since implementing the new process, patient satisfaction has improved, there is less stress on staff, and overall, the process has received good reviews. Thank you so much for the great idea, Audrey, and the compassion you show in our department. Audrey always goes above and beyond to help and improve things.”
Regina Allen – Acute IP Rehab, Kettering Health Hamilton
“Gina is not only an excellent teammate but an excellent caretaker. She provides compassionate care throughout treatments for our patients in the inpatient rehab unit, by going out of her way to address the specific needs of every patient. She goes above and beyond her responsibilities as a HUC/NA. She assists during therapy sessions, tries to help patients feel comfortable with music, and provides activities for confused patients to increase their comfort. Gina collaborates with members of the nursing staff and therapy staff to optimize a patient’s care and their overall experience on the rehab unit. When the unit is under strain, she picks up additional shifts — giving of her limited free time. Gina is always willing to provide a positive and helping hand to any situation. When working with a patient that had significant difficulties with expression and verbalizing her needs, Gina would provide music and activities to the patient. She would also participate in therapy with the patient by going to the gift shop to work on visual scanning and safety with community barriers. One area the patient really needed to work on was stairs. Gina would always give of her time to assist with taking the patient on stairs for a second set of hands. She always demonstrated patience and empathy for both the patient and their family. Additional ways that Gina has gone above and beyond, includes her assistance with meal orders and trays. Since our unit has reduced admissions, our meal tray system has been modified. Gina has gone out of her way each shift to collect and provide the orders for the patients for the next day. This greatly impacts the patient’s ability to remain on a consistent schedule, while also allowing for times for patients to enjoy their meals and have a flow with medication pass. Gina anticipates the needs of her patients, communicating with staff members regarding the patient’s status.”
Steven Sassaman – Nursing Administration, Kettering Health Behavioral Medical Center
“Steve is always so attentive and thorough with his nursing care. He is organized and very knowledgeable. I don’t mind following his assignment as I know he has turned over every rock. He is definitely one to hold on to. Thanks for caring, Steve. I know that patients have received the utmost professional and complete care imaginable if Steve has cared for them. He takes his position seriously and his peers and patients benefit from his sound nursing practices.”
Sally Cox – Outpatient Therapy, Kettering Health Greene Memorial
“Sally is a dedicated, kind, and caring employee who has amazing multi-tasking capabilities as an office assistant for outpatient therapy. She provides immeasurable assistance to me as the site coordinator. She is proactive in solving problems and correcting errors. Sally provides nearly all insurance verifications for the department and handles most patient financial inquiries. She is very resourceful at finding answers to questions from patients and staff. For example, she has very detailed knowledge of insurance coverages and restrictions and readily shares that information with our team. In addition to her duties at Kettering Health Greene Memorial, Sally also handles a regional work queue and directs therapy referrals to several locations in our network to best serve our patients. She reflects our values at all times, consistently displaying a very high level of being trustworthy, innovative, highly competent, caring and collaborative. I feel she has set a very high bar as an office assistant and how to effectively serve our patients and department as a front desk employee. Our department is successful in part because of her focus and dedication, and her striving to make a positive difference every day. Being pleasant and accommodating, she is a pleasure to work with and is truly an immeasurable asset to our clinic and to all of outpatient therapy.”
Justin Whisner – Skilled Trade Technician, Kettering Health Main Campus
“Justin never hesitates when something is needed. In early November, an issue with our chiller system occurred. We had to shut down the system and drain a pipe to remove a plastic bucket that got sucked into the system and stuck on a valve. A set of valves were not closing fast enough due to how they are installed so, to make it go faster and reduce the potential of the building heating up, he climbed into chest deep water and closed the valves. Once the bucket had been removed, he had to climb back down into the water to open the valves. Justin did this with no hesitation to make sure we could get the issue fixed without anyone noticing what was happening. A few days later, as his second shift just finished, a steam leak occurred in the back hallway of the lab. Justin was asked by his third shift co-workers to stay and help so he did without issue. He then proceeded to climb above the ceiling into the cramped area with pipes, electrical conduits, and wires to crawl to the area where the leak was located. He stayed above the ceiling until his co-workers were able to stabilize the system and get the line shutdown. He was up in the ceiling for over two hours in the event something else happened. The work that Justin does behind the scenes never gets any glory but for these two issues they could have had major consequences to the hospital — like having to shut down ORs because the rooms were too hot or having to shut down Sterile Processing due to losing steam pressure. Justin puts everything into his job, and it shows he truly cares about the work and everyone that could be affected by what we do.”
Cyndee Stevens – Patient Access, Kettering Health Miamisburg
“Cyndee is in many ways the textbook definition of a great team lead. She is the go-to person for issues. She steps up to help without asking and she is willing to do anything to help her team. Cyndee saw that we were short after our team was plagued by illness and came back early from her time off to help. She wasn’t asked to do so, but she saw that her co-workers and leaders were in a bind and wanted to lessen the burden. Cyndee is exceptional in every way. Cyndee is calm under pressure, always keeping a smile and a positive attitude even when the situation isn’t the best. Cyndee treats her co-workers like family and cares deeply about their well-being — even outside of work life. She is an amazing leader and model employee.”
Frances Silver – Environmental Services, Kettering Health Troy
“Frances always shows up to work with a smile on her face from start to finish. As a lead on second shift, she answers every single call she gets on the phone and promptly makes sure that the clinical staff’s needs are taken care of. She ensures that all her team members know where they are supposed to be and what is expected of them while maintaining a friendly demeanor. She is highly deserving of the title Employee of the Month. I would have to say that the positive impact she has is that she is proof that when things get difficult you don’t give up — you keep going and do what needs to be done. Throughout the pandemic she has been working tirelessly to ensure that our patients have clean rooms when they come into our facility. Frances is proof that if you put your mind to it you can do anything.”
Misha Holmes – Emergency Room, Kettering Health Washington Township
“Misha goes above and beyond every shift she works, often with more than fifteen patients as her assignment for the night. She has stepped up to the plate to draw blood for our nurses since they often do not have an LPN. When we had a late call in for phlebotomy in the last few months, Misha would just tell the nurses to get our lab bags ready and she was always willing to do labs on any patient. When nurses had a difficult stick, she would jump in and get it. She is always helpful to the staff. When I see her on my work assignment, I know things will be done properly and the rooms will be clean and stocked. Because of that, she is wonderful in orienting new aides with the proper job responsibilities. Misha always has a smile on her face and will help everyone out. She has a great personality, is gentle and caring with the patients, and is a great team member. She keeps us all in good spirits with her positive attitude, which helps so much to keep things positive even on the most stressful of days. She is appreciated by everyone for her hard work. It is a joy to work with her.”
Jacquelyn Moore – Surgery Access, Kettering Network Services
“I have been working with Jacquelyn for about six months now and she has proven to be such a pleasant person to work with, eager to learn, and accommodate as needed when possible. Today I learned that she spent about 45 minutes on the phone with a patient, giving information and emotional support as she prepared him for his upcoming surgery. She is so kind and compassionate and did not want to end the call quickly so she could ensure that he felt comfortable with the information needed. I appreciate Jacquelyn as a co-worker and as a dedicated nurse, living out the mission and providing excellent care to our patients! Jacquelyn is always pleasant and kind and has shown the desire to be the best nurse she can be. I am so thankful to get to work with a person with these characteristics. She makes my day better as well as the lives of the people we are serving. Thank you, Jacquelyn!”
Lindsay Duvall – PC YAHC Centerville, Kettering Physician Network
“Lindsay has been my medical assistant for nearly two years now, and I can honestly say that in my 15 years as a physician, she is head and shoulders above. She’s the best medical assistant I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Daily, she goes above and beyond her job duties to not only help me to be more efficient in caring for our patients, but also in providing compassionate and essential care to our patients. She frequently goes the extra mile by making phone calls to patients and families, hunting down medical records from other offices, and scrubbing my schedule ahead of time to see what is needed for each patient. She oftentimes calls patients to remind them to complete pre-appointment labs ahead of time so we can review them at their appointment. She has been instrumental in helping numerous patients file patient assistance program paperwork so that they can have access to lifesaving medications that would otherwise be too expensive for them to afford. She recently went out of her way to help find a patient a special podiatrist that could perform a particular surgery after the patient had been denied by multiple other podiatry offices. She recently helped a caregiver establish respite care for my patient so the caregiver could take care of her own medical needs. She is incredibly selfless and does all these things proactively. I am so very thankful for her and all the amazing things she does for our office and patients every day. She is truly loved and appreciated by our patients. I recently had a patient tell me, ‘Don’t let Lindsay ever leave!’ and I could not agree more on how important she is to our mission here and the positive difference she makes in our patients’ lives.”
Vaqueta Hayes – Med Surg 5, Soin Medical Center
“Queta advocated for a patient whom she was very suspicious may be going home to a dangerous living environment. Queta notified RN Care Management that the patient’s family member was placing the patient in home-made restraints during their hospital stay. The family member had been educated multiple times that this could not happen. Queta came forward to Care Management which then enabled the patient to have a safer discharge plan to hospice inpatient. This patient will now have a better quality of life. Vaqueta’s actions teach others at Kettering Health to come forward no matter what position you are in, because we can all advocate for our patients and their quality of life.”
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.