Tiffany Samuelson is RiverView's December Employee of the Month
Tiffany Samuelson has been a surgical technologist in RiverView’s Surgical Services Department for 10 years. While she’s outstanding in her everyday duties in the Operating Room, Samuelson was actually awarded RiverView’s December Employee of the Month honor for extra care she provided on the Inpatient Unit.
“Tiffany normally works as a scrub tech in surgery. I have had only a few interactions with her prior to this weekend,’’ stated Lisa Johnson in her Employee of the Month nomination for Samuelson. “She is always professional and kind, but this Friday I saw a side of her that I had never seen before. She was asked to come sit one-on-one with one of our patients on third floor who had a history of a traumatic brain injury. This made the patient very impulsive, hard to understand and a very high falls risk. Many times when we have had other staff sit one-on-one, they choose to not interact with the patient or they will alert staff if the patient has any personal needs. Tiffany was different.
"Unbeknownst to us, she had been a CNA before. More often than not, we are satisfied with only meeting expectations, but on that day, she rose above those expectations and gave that patient excellent, compassionate care. She helped feed, toilet and bathe our patient. She connected with him at a level that I don’t know if anyone had connected with him at. During the few hours she had with him that day, she not only made an impact on this patient, but for me as well. I am so proud to work with such an elite member of RiverView. Thank you for showing us what excellence looks like.’’
Samuelson has an AAS from Northland Community and Technical College, EGF. She and her husband Robert have three children: Mollie, 11; Brady, 9; and Aiden, 3.
“When asked to work on third floor and sit with a patient I was actually quite excited,’’ Samuelson shared. “I used to be a CNA for four years and really enjoyed it, and miss it. I want patients that I care for to have the same care that I would give my own family - a little extra TLC. Thank you for the nomination; I am very honored.’’
