When members of the Hospital Medicine team were treated to catered lunch and care packages from a team member’s neighbor recently they decided to pay the kind gesture forward.
“We thought, why don’t we do this for Environmental Services staff,” said Dr. Amal Youssef-Elgamal, a provider on Duke Raleigh Hospital’s hospital medicine team. “They are not noticed like providers, but they are a really important and integral part of the healthcare team.”
Youssef-Elgamal and her colleague Dr. Victoria Dorr devised a plan to celebrate the hard work each one of the more than 60 Duke Raleigh Hospital environmental service team members do to ensure patient rooms and common areas are clean.
They set out to raise money among their Hospital Medicine Team to purchase snacks, but the generosity quickly grew the gift into much more than they expected.
“In addition to providing individually packaged healthy snacks and candy, we were able to purchase $10 gift cards for each member of the environmental services staff,” said Dorr. “It means so much to provide this gesture of appreciation.”
For members of our Environmental Services team, these physical tokens of support from within the larger Duke Raleigh Hospital made the gifts even more special.
“It is a pleasure to be recognized by other members of the hospital, especially folks whose office I attend to,” said Patricia Elescano, a Duke Raleigh Hospital housekeeping associate. “They have always made me feel welcomed. I am truly grateful.”
Even in these unprecedented times, Dorr said, it is these kind gestures and the comradery in the halls that is keeping the Duke Raleigh Hospital team strong.
“All of the people I see at Duke, everybody is giving an air high five and blowing kisses in the hall,” she said. “You really feel like it is a huge family and everyone is caring for everyone else.”
–By Erin McKenzie
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