Acts of Humankindness

Melody Casey

For the past three years, Melody Casey has been instrumental in providing handmade Valentine’s Day cards to local nursing homes as well as back to school supplies for local elementary school students in the Sacramento area. She has personally organized, gathered support from the Dignity Health Advanced Imaging staff, collected from the site locations, and then distributed the items to the nursing home and elementary schools. The results have been phenomenal, bringing much joy and pleasure to the residents of the home and much needed support to the students, parents and teachers of the elementary schools, especially during these past few years with higher everyday costs for all. I am so very proud to work alongside Melody each and every day. Her compassion for the underserved and desire to make a difference is very evident by her actions within the community. Her commitment and dedication continues to exhibit a wonderful example of humankindness and represents the core values of our organization.

Yeni Gallardo Aguilar

Yeni is a Community Health Worker (CHW) on the Bakersfield Care Coordination Team. She is an invaluable resource and mentor. She has gone above and beyond to help patients with everything from transportation, social needs, community resources, Christmas gifts, and helping people in any manner she can. She continues to be an advocate for patients and is always putting the patient's needs first. She has a very peaceful, pleasant, and calming manner that resonates with people. She is a strong advocate for Spanish-only speaking patients and getting their needs met. She volunteers in the community to serve others. She is always a go-to person on projects in the department. She freely shares her resources and information with coworkers and acts as a mentor to many. She has trained many employees willingly and successfully. She recently led the way in a new endeavor for Ambulatory Care Coordination. We started a pilot program sending CHW's into the hospital to see patients daily to educate them on care coordination, and to make their hospital follow up visits with their provider. The patients are now leaving the hospital with support they didn't have prior, and their follow up appointment with their provider scheduled. Yeni has done an amazing job with this program, and assisting with workflows and relationships with our inpatient partners. She is always there for patients and family members, and goes the extra mile. There are not enough ways to say how impressed I am by Yeni and her care for others. She truly embodies Hello humankindness!

Brandy Herrera

Jody Kinner

Jody spearheads numerous initiatives aimed at bolstering team collaboration and advocating for responsible community stewardship. I will present one illustrative instance of each (although there are many!) Jody has taken the initiative to spearhead donation collection campaigns for charitable organizations, overseeing the coordination of the delivery process as well. One example, she reached out to the entire CSPS Team, soliciting contributions for WEAVE (Women Escaping a Violent Environment). Jody efficiently organized the collection by having employees bring their donations to a spare office in DDO (which was already overflowing with items). Subsequently, she collaborated with W.E.A.V.E. to ensure the smooth transport of these contributions. Jody has taken proactive steps to foster a sense of connection and camaraderie among her team members who are fully remote. By organizing creative activities, she's managed to transcend the physical distance and create a virtual space for team members to interact and bond. Her approach has several benefits: relationship building, improved team cohesiveness, morale boost, inclusivity, stress relief, and a positive team culture. One example of this was hosting a virtual "paint party" by coordinating supplies delivered to their homes, and doing the painting together as a team. While these are two examples, the reality is there are many more. I could list but only have so many characters to submit the nomination!