For the Labor Day holiday I just composed a celebratory email for our administration staff. It got me thinking about just how much they all do, and even though they do get recognition and gratitude from within Catalina, I think it’s time that they publicly got acknowledged.
Here is what I wrote:
“Hello and thank you to all of you who “labor” so powerfully and with such dedication every day. It seems that by now Catalina should have thousands of babies with all the amazing and long “labors” you’ve been through. And, yet, there HAVE been lots of births this past almost two years. New staff members, new safety procedures, new work environments, new on-line meetings, etc. There have been many infant projects that have grown to toddlers, teens, and are fully matured.
Soon we will be having team building activities, sort of along the lines of our Ice Cream Social. They may be on-line for a while, but with all of our creativity and openness they will be successful . We will connect and continue to grow and flourish together.”
As you see, I got into the play of words on the word “labor.” Labor as a work word implies difficulty, stress and strain, and heavy lifting in all kinds of ways. Our staff does all that. However, they also do it with real inspiration, joy and professionalism.
In my email I just vaguely allude to all of the adaptations the in-house staff has had to make since the pandemic. Multiple changes of office safety procedures. Including lots and lots of cleaning. Mask wearing. Working from different offices within the building. For several periods, they were working from home, and only one person was manning the actual physical site. It has taken creativity and dedication to make it work to allow the clients or the caregivers continuity of service from our end’
Resiliency, flexibility and dedication have been the theme always at Catalina. But, the demands of the pandemic have required supreme performance. Every week our Managing Director, Sue, sends out an email to all of the staff. She lists all of the amazing accomplishments that have occurred in the week by individuals doing the scheduling, nursing, and all of the other important duties needed to keep our caregivers and clients well cared for. It’s a great gesture of support and acknowledgment. It always amazes me just what has been happening in the last 7 days to meet all of the challenges that come Catalina’s way.
I will follow up this blog with appreciation of other staff members. For now, I really want to feature our Receptionist and Office Manager, Joanna. She is the person that always had to be at the office, sometimes alone for days and days at a time. She was the axle on which our wheel was turning on many occasions. As the front line person, she needed to wear a mask at all times to greet prospective caregivers or clients at our door. She has had to don so many hats, I’m surprised she’s not bald by now! We all appreciate her so much. It is difficult to really let her know how aware we are of her amazing skills and perseverance. I hope this blog helps her to feel the recognition she deserves.
Let’s celebrate the work that they do.
