There were 3 individuals chosen for this year’s employee excellence awards. The individuals selected have demonstrated behaviors associated with our BOE (Behavior of Excellence) standards of professionalism, engagement, being community focused and teamwork or have been recognized by a patient or their peer.
The first recipient is Patty Paul.
Patty started with FirstLight as the Rehab Aide in 2000 after hearing that Rita Richardson was going to retire. She was working as a Nursing Assistant at St. Clair’s and recounts how she “ran over after work” to put in the application. An interview with Deb and a few days she was hired!
Patty grew up in Mahnomen and for those of you who don’t know where that is, it’s 40 miles north of Adam Thielen’s home town, Detroit Lakes. Patty is an avid Vikings fan – Case Keenum being her favorite player and even wore purple to church last Sunday showing her fan support! She and her husband live just south of Mora and together own SNG Services. Patty has 2 children, Kirsti and Tim and 2 fur children, her dogs: Buddy and Elsa.
Garrett, her nominator, describes Patty as the behind-the-scenes leader… not only within the rehab department, but within the FirstLight organization. Patty works seamlessly with both staff and our vendors so that the therapists can continue to provide the best medical supplies and services to our patients. She has a deep understanding of how departments work together and uses this understanding to streamline processes throughout the organization. On top of it all, Patty demonstrates kindness and a listening ear to offering personal support to staff and students and patients.
Congratulations Patty, thank you for always giving it your all and the difference YOU make within FirstLight and to our patients.
Our second recipient is Sue Schiller.
Sue Schiller has worked for FirstLight Health System for the past 26 years. She started in 1991 working in admissions and a year later she joined the business office team as a biller.
Sue’s expertise falls in the Medicare realm. She understands the complex rules and regulations set forth by Medicare and ensures that FirstLight is not at risk with any billing rules or regulations.
Sue thoroughly researches a payors’ regulation to assure compliance, and she’s certainly not afraid to challenge either Sheila or Brenda when needed.
She is also an advocate for our patients assuring them that they are receiving the correct coverage and that they won’t incur any more out of pocket expenses than necessary. Sue understands our customers and handles their interactions with professionalism, patience and understanding. She is a mentor and always makes the time to share her knowledge with her peers.
Personally, Sue lives in Hinckley with her husband, Steve and together they have 3 children. And comments that she is hoping to have some grandchildren to spend time with soon
In Sue’s spare time, she enjoys gardening, taking care of her animals and spending time with her family and friends.
Sue, thank you for your dedication to our organization and to our patients. You make sense out of the complex billing world and ensure our customers are happy to pay their bill.
Both Brenda and Sheila commented that “having Sue on our team makes all the difference. She is dedicated to our patients, her peers and to making sense out of very complex billing regulations.”
Our last recipient is Joe Dvorak
Joe graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy in 2008, after earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering. He started with FirstLight in 2014 as our community pharmacy manager with the task of launching a new community pharmacy in Pine City. With the success of that pharmacy he is now working on bring a community pharmacy to Mora while working on some additional certifications. Joe is also an active member of many pharmacy organizations.
Joe has a passion for helping people and seeing that things are done right. He takes the extra time to listen to his patients and provide them the one of a kind care people have come to expect from FirstLight. His patients know, love and respect him and he has become a figure of leadership within Pine City.
Outside of pharmacy he serves as the current president of the Pine City Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Pine County Substance Abuse Coalition, and active member of the Pine County National Wild Turkey Federation. Joe loves fishing, which happens to be where he is today, hunting, playing softball and spending time with his family. Joe, Kati and their 3 sons, Sawyer, Sullivan, and Hudson, live in Pine City where together they are active in the community helping with the Pine County Fair and Youth Hockey.
Joe was nominated because of the numerous compliments, applause cards involving him and his staff, and the comments from patients that we receive on our surveys.
Brent, his nominator also added “Among the hundreds of patients, Joe and his team care for each week, they find problems and fix them, whether it’s side effects, new symptoms, how to care for simple ailments, keeping current on vaccinations, MTM, and health education. You simply don’t get this kind of care in any other pharmacy. Joe exemplifies what it means to be an excellent community pharmacist in all these respects. His knowledge of the business is extraordinary and is an incredible leader for his staff, his community and the profession.”
Thanks Joe and congratulations!