Alecia exemplifies the "Culture of Always." She is compassionate and caring and always thinking of ways to help others whether they are our patients in need, team member and family, or people in our community. For many years Alecia had served as a big sister to a young girl who she nurtured and mentored with a lot of love and care.
One Christmas, Alecia bought gifts for her little sister and her siblings: several people volunteered to help and also contributed gifts for the young girl and her family. She put up a Christmas tree in her little sister's house to surprise her and her siblings. Alecia also carries umbrellas in her car and stops to give it to anyone she passes by that may need it.
Last year, knowing that our homeless population is always in need, Alecia bought scarves and hung them in the bus stop outside of Mease Dunedin Hospital. When other team members heard she was doing, she received donations and she was able to put up some more scarves. At the end of the week, all the scarves were claimed as it happened to be an especially cold week.
For Christmas 2018, Alecia started a project for the battered women's shelter. She hung flyers in our unit asking for donations of used purses and supplies for a "Purse for a Purpose" project. The unit and a few other team members from Mease Dunedin supported this project and we were able to collect more than 100 purses. Alecia went shopping with the donation money and bought gifts. These gifts were make-up bags, make-up, nail polish, bracelets, lotion, scented sprays, nail kits, painted rocks with motivational messages, and much more. The purses were filled with special gifts for the women at the battered women's shelter. A big box of hair dyes was also delivered as this was a special request from the supervisor of the shelter.
Last month, a patient was upset that her cats might not have any food or water as she had been in the hospital for several days. Alecia expressed her concern and the patient asked if she could go to the dollar store and get her some cat food. Alecia refused to take her money and bought a big bag of food for the cats, went and fed them, cleaned their litter, and gave them fresh water. The patient was so thankful and was able to feel better without the added stress from home. She was very appreciative of the empathy and compassion that Alecia gave her.