OHSU’s ROSE (Recognizing Outstanding Service Excellence) Award program celebrates employees, students and volunteers who provide outstanding service beyond the normal scope of their jobs.
Meet the recipients from our most recent virtual ROSE Award ceremony and learn why they were nominated below!
Red ROSE Award recipients
Chrystal Shaw, Project Coordinator, Telemedicine
I am writing to nominate Chrystal Shaw, who has been an exceptional help to our department in assisting with our telemedicine needs. Before COVID-19, our clinic had participated in a telemedicine pilot with six providers and we were expanding the service to all of our providers. Chrystal worked with me to set up smaller trainings specific to our team so that our providers could not only train together but could do so in our clinic (as opposed to going to the hill). She worked tirelessly to make sure our providers were privileged to do these visits, as some of our Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) were not initially slated to do telemedicine visits. Our faculty were almost all set up to do telemedicine visits when COVID-19 hit. Chrystal answered my many questions involving the new training modules and made sure our providers were good to go. Since the switch to using Zoom as the video integrator for virtual visits on June 15, we’ve had some technical issues. Chrystal has always been quick to respond to my questions and concerns and loop in the correct individuals to help with anything that she was unable to help with. When a provider was having issues using her MacBook, Chrystal helped us to get this provider an iPad. Just today, a provider noted that our transgender patients’ legal names were showing on Zoom (as opposed to their preferred names) which could adversely affect these patients. I let Chrystal know and she immediately looped in other members of the Telemedicine team and Epic to start to work on this issue. The Telemedicine Team as a whole has worked hard to increase accessibility for OHSU patients and is so appreciated, but I cannot imagine going through this process without Chrystal’s help. She is kind, patient, knowledgeable and on top of things. Chrystal is deserving of a ROSE Award.
Marcus Gittins, Property Specialist, School of Dentistry Academic Affairs
The simulation (SIM) clinic in the OHSU School of Dentistry opened in the summer after almost five months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this significant interruption, many classes needed to be delivered to first-, second- and third-year dental students. To accommodate all these classes and provide our dental students with the pre-clinical education that they need before they enter the clinic and start treating patients, the SIM clinic is open every weekday for long hours (7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Ever since the SIM clinic opened, Marcus has been working these long hours with an amazing attitude. His schedule used to be Monday to Thursday, and he was able to change it when asked, without hesitation, to support our educational program. I am sure this was not easy for him, especially considering he is a father. However, we have not heard him complain even once about it. Marcus enthusiastically supports all course directors at the School of Dentistry who are trying to deliver their courses in the “new normal. He works 11 hours daily, supplying materials, taking care of equipment and just making sure everyone is happy while following all the necessary precautions to administer the SIM courses safely for faculty and students. He is the reason for all of us having an amazing experience in the SIM clinic at the OHSU School of Dentistry, and we cannot thank him enough. During these incredibly hard times, Marcus has been a phenomenal resource for so many. He sets a great example with his attitude and overall positivity and represents all the values that are recognized through the ROSE Award program. We need more people like him at OHSU!
Samantha Corthell, Patient Account Representative, Patient Business Services
Samantha is a customer service representative and the lead in handling incoming patient billing inquiries via MyChart. The incoming messages are voluminous, to say the least! Samantha had the brilliant idea to place a notifier on the patient’s Epic billing account if there was an unread or unworked MyChart message. She worked hard with our Epic systems lead to make this a doable feature and it will go into place sometime in the next few months. This will make a huge impact for our patients who are waiting for replies to their billing messages. Kudos and congratulations to Samantha are definitely in order. Please consider her for a ROSE Award.
Esperanza Zozobrado, Director, Sterile Processing
Those of us who work closely within the healthcare mission know that the beating heart of a hospital is the very complex and sensitive sterile processing department. Without an efficient and meticulously managed department, the critical instruments and supply needs of the operating and procedure rooms, throughout the hospital and clinics, would not be met. To serve our patients, OHSU operates multiple sterile processing locations all under the dedicated management of Esperanza Zozobrado. Esper is a true leader – she understand the importance of a properly trained and seasoned staff, an environment that promotes professional growth, flexibility in scheduling shifts and opportunities for specialty training and certification. Her team knows her commitment to them and they respond with being a major force behind OHSU being ranked no. 1 in Oregon. There is no better partner on a construction project than Esper! She has an exuberance and “can do” attitude that inspires the project team. No matter the challenges we throw at her on a project, she responds with “Yes, I will attend!” and “When do you need that?” and “Let me know what you need from me.” Esper is all heart.
Team Award: Rebecca Thompson, M.D., House Officer, OB/GYN, Graduate Medical Services, and Margaret “Meg” O’Reilly, M.D., Associate Professor, OB/GYN Generalist Division
On the Labor and Delivery unit, we cared for a couple whose term fetus was found to be deceased in the womb unexpectedly. We induced labor for the patient and cared for her. On a Friday morning after a night shift, Rebecca Thompson was just leaving when the patient was completely dilated and ready to start pushing to deliver her baby. Rebecca had been her doctor overnight and had provided phenomenal medical and psychosocial care for the patient through the night. She had just changed out of her scrubs to go home and sleep when she heard the patient was ready to start pushing. She changed back into scrubs and stayed to support the patient and deliver her baby. Margaret O’Reilly had taken care of the patient previously and was not scheduled to work at all. She was told that it was time to deliver the patient and she came into OHSU specifically to support the patient through the delivery. Both of the providers were extremely caring toward the entire family and helped the patient through one of the most difficult moments of her life.
Golden ROSE Award recipients
Patrick Maloney, Community Health Worker, Family Medicine
OHSU Family Medicine at Richmond has participated in a community program, CSA Partnerships for Health, for more than five years. This program connects federally qualified health centers like Richmond Clinic to local farms to bring subsidized CSA (community supported agriculture) shares to low-income patients. Patrick has been an integral piece of the CSA program at Richmond Clinic for three years now. When COVID hit, we knew that things would be different. Typically, the program model consisted of 50 patients coming to the clinic each week during the summer to get their produce in a farmer’s market style pick up. In light of COVID, we knew we couldn’t have a gathering in the parking lot, but furthermore, we knew we had to do our best to protect our most vulnerable patients, especially those who participate in this program and are food insecure and/or have chronic diseases. That’s when Patrick stepped in. We shifted to a delivery model for this season and Patrick got to work recruiting patients for the program. Unfortunately, the farm had a specific delivery area, which did not include downtown Portland. Many of our patients, especially those that who are low-income, food insecure and at-risk for COVID live in housing downtown. They were going to miss out on fresh, affordable and local produce simply because of where they lived. Patrick developed a plan. He arranged to drive all the way to the farm in east Portland, pick up shares in his car and deliver them to all of the patients who wanted to participate and lived throughout downtown, ensuring that they had access to this incredible program. Without Patrick, many of our most vulnerable patients would be without this resource and unable to obtain health, fresh produce. He truly embodies the spirit of going above and beyond, demonstrates exceptional patient-centered care and he certainly puts the “community health” in community health worker!
Elbert Mondaine, M.A., Spine Center
Elbert went above and beyond his duties as a CMA on Monday, June 29, to lead difficult conversations about racial injustice and anti-Blackness in our community. The audience of nearly 100 attendees included students, staff and faculty at OHSU who were engaged, moved and provoked by the dialogue he initiated. He employed courage, vulnerability, empathy and humor to educate white and non-Black folks at OHSU who are interested in learning how to be better allies for their fellow Black friends and colleagues. As a healthcare worker on the frontlines of a viral pandemic and a leader in our community for racial justice, Elbert laid the groundwork for much overdue change needed at our institution.
Team Award: Claudette Van Domelen, R.N., Michelle Spangler, R.N., Graham Harris, C.N.A., and Amelia Glasier, R.N., Neurosciences & Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery
During June, 10K nurses Claudette Van Domelen and CNA Graham Harris secured donations of 300 cloth masks, gallons of hand sanitizer, bars of soap, fresh fruit, cornflour, canned goods, pounds of rice and beans, and toiletries. These items were purchased and/or donated by multiple 10K staff. Multnomah County and Oregon Health Authority added additional COVID-19 education materials. All items were then organized into family-sized care packages. Claudette and Graham, accompanied by 10K nurses Michelle Spangler and Amelia Glaser, embarked on an outreach project to provide education and supplies to some of Oregon’s most underserved migrant communities. The migrant camps the foursome visited around the Hillsboro area held many families living in poor conditions, including sink and food prep areas without soap, multiple housing units built into uninsulated tin barns, inadequate garbage removal, no access to personal protective equipment and a limited understanding of protective measures they should take to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Aided by Graham’s fluency in Spanish and certification as a bilingual health educator, the group of dedicated 10K providers handed out 40 care packages and provided in-person education to many in the small community. They did this out of the kindness in their hearts and without any expectation of recognition. The supplies and materials that were donated were given freely by 10k staff. The entire endeavor goes far beyond the normal scope of these providers’ job descriptions and is just the type of small action that leads to a big and positive impact in our community. I am humbled and proud to work with such amazing people and truly feel that their actions are deserving of a ROSE Award.
Know someone at OHSU who deserves recognition? Nominate them for a ROSE Award!
