Throughout the past year, like other health care facilities, the pandemic created incredible challenges. Our Quality Department was impacted and one leader, in particular, suffered great personal loss at the same time the department experienced a shortage in coverage. Our Director of Quality, Melissa Garcia with grace, kindness, and excellence was always available. As our facility was inundated with COVID-19, she worked tirelessly to ensure we were able to surge into unusual locations safely. She helped us with constant communication to our licensing agencies and guidance around safety tactics.
What is unusual about Melissa is that she is able to educate, update, communicate, guide, inform, acknowledge and share data all while maintaining relationships with the entire team. At times, she was monitoring quality at 0300, coming to work, and staying up until 2300, all because she wanted to ensure that the patients we serve were receiving excellent care. She rounded on staff and patients daily; she was essentially on call 24/7 and every time she answered the call she was kind and willing to take on whatever task meant that patients were safe.
What makes her special is the intangible qualities that she has. While her clinical and leadership skills are amazing, Melissa's ability to connect with each and every team member is what sets her apart. If there was an Exceptional Human DAISY Award, she would hands down be the recipient; in fact, it should be named after her!