Introducing our Winners
Dozens of our internal staff votes and a few names stood out even during our Semi Finals round. When 20 Finalists were selected, the second vote surfaced these two winners yet again, with more votes than their nearest neighbors by some way.
Patricia Silvera
Patricia started in Home Care and 3 years ago, got her CNA license. Her nomination from a colleague includes no less than 8 different times when she went above and beyond for the good of her patients. She loves the wisdom and stories that senior citizens give back to her, a big part of what makes her job fulfilling.
Read More About Patricia Silvera
Her Journey Into Caregiving
Patricia has been a CNA for 3 years, with 15 years of home care prior to that.
Her parents got sick, then her grandparents, then her parent's partners, so she learned what good care looks like and started doing Home Care.
“I just found that I really love it. I'm one of those few people I think that like I personally really enjoy spending time with senior citizens. They're, they have so much wisdom to provide. They have been through so much in their life and they have such incredible stories. And I mean, you just think about the changes in time and technology and everything that they've been through and how different it was for them versus what it was for us and the things they've done to pave the way for us to be the way it is today.”
Patricia just started a new job on the day that we spoke. She is moving to a Workplace that she says values the work that she does, which is paramount to her. Even taking a slight pay reduction for the move is less important than feeling valued.
“I mean, not to sound conceited, but I know I'm a very good aide. I know I am fantastic at what I do. I show up every day and I do a really good job, and I know that. And so for me, it's really important to just have that acknowledged, just be appreciated.”
Why Patricia Stood Out
Patricia was nominated by a colleague of hers, Kathleen, with multiple examples of Patricia demonstrating unbelievable empathy, work ethic and compassion.
Kathleen didn't just share one story. She shared eight.
“There is a resident who has been there over 20 years, and he is very selective about who he allows in his room. She is welcome anytime, and one of very few he will let change his brief, and take his vitals.”
“One time, she bought some red nail polish for a resident. Her favorite color is red. And her face just lit up like a Christmas tree that someone listened to her and bought her something she really wanted.”
“Another moment, a resident was constantly being overlooked and her hair was not being maintained. So this CNA bought some hair products and spent an hour untangling the "rats nest" on her head. The resident was very particular about her hair and refused to leave her room because of the way it looked. But after the CNA took the time to take care of her hair, the resident was more than happy to wheel around the halls.”
“She calmed the resident down from the extreme embarrassment she was feeling and calmly cleaned her up, privately in her room.”
“A long time resident was on his final days on this earth, and every shift she would take time to sit with the resident and the residents family until he passed.”
“Nurses request her in times of crisis, even when it's not a resident she was assigned to care for.”
“During a Clipboard shift, a resident coded, and all the other in-house CNA's panicked, so she stepped in to help the nurses get the resident on the floor to perform CPR. Ran to get the nearest crash cart, and even went outside to make sure the EMT's could get inside the building and to the right room quickly.”
“Another moment, on New Years, there was a bunch of call-ins, and it ended up that just her and a nurse were working on a station of over 50 people. Instead of making excuses, she just went room to room caring for each resident the best she could. By the end of the shift she had completed rounds on every resident at least once and some twice. A lot of people would have walked away, but she stayed and did the best she could. She is absolutely amazing and more than deserving of this award. If all CNA's were like her, every place would be a 5 star facility.”
How We're Recognizing Patricia
3 minutes into my conversation with Patricia, before mentioning that we wanted to gift her anything, she mentioned that she was hoping to go back to school to qualify as an RN.
At the moment her biggest obstacle was not having a reliable car, with the downpayment for a lease being a pain point.
It was a moment where you know, you have something to give that can impact someone's life in an important way. Not only with gestures, or congratulations, but with something tangible that can improve a day, week, year, or career.
We will be helping Patricia to fund the downpayment on that vehicle. To keep her safe on the road, and to help drive her to classes for her journey to become an RN.
Patricia, you are Unbelievable!
Rikayla Montgomery
Rikayla has been a CNA for 13 years, having been inspired to Healthcare after your father passed when she was 12. “we need people in this field, who have a big enough heart to stop and take the time to actually care for people and not just do a job”
She was nominated for being the calming CNA that hums a tune to relax her residents. She´s studying to become an RN.
Read More About Rikayla Montgomery
What Inspired Rikayla's Career
Rikayla's father had an accident and broke his neck when she was 12, and had a feeding tube that CNAs forgot to tend to. Sadly, he aspirated and passed away.
She knew in that moment:
“We need people in this field, who have a big enough heart to stop and take the time to actually care for people and not just do a job.”
What Makes Rikayla Special
Rikayla loves being a CNA, and has done this work for about 13 years.
She strives for a relaxed, family style environment, where residents feel calm and comforted. She told about one of many times when she can be found humming for residents, particularly in their favourite Genre if she knows it. Old Country music was the style of that particular day.
“It actually calms the environment down because whenever it's chaotic and it's busy and then we react to it in the same way, it just makes it harder. But if we relax and then, you know, just kind of take our time and just think one person at a time, one task at a time, and the important thing for me is like we're there to make their day better, their daily living activities better.
We don't want to take away mobility, but we want to make them feel better, you know, one little thing, you know, can change someone's day, a smile, a hug could change someone's day. And so a lot of times whenever I take my time out just to listen.”
Rikayla's story was thoughtful and inspiring to the Clipboard Staff who voted for her.
Advocating to oneself takes courage. Rikayla's self awareness and confidence is what will make her a great Nurse.
Yes, that is right, Rikayla is currently in school and is on track to graduate in May 2027.
A huge achievement that she should be very proud of. Considering what inspired her to go into Healthcare, her commitment and experience are exactly what the industry needs to continue giving top notch care, whatever setting they choose.
How We're Recognizing Rikayla
Rikayla has two children, an 11 year old and a 6 year old.
Like most families, luxuries are few and far between.
What we are doing for Rikayla is some support towards car payments, to help ease the burden of all the miles that healthcare professionals put on their cars.
But we also wanted to give her a celebratory meal.
Since we found out that Rikayla loves seafood, Blue Coast in Tulsa is where she can take her family, to enjoy an experience of her choice.
Rikayla, you are Unbelievable!
What National CNA Week means to Clipboard
Almost 800 Nominations hit our inbox in the weeks before CNA Week. They came from colleagues, both CNAs and Nurses, friends, workplace staff, family members of patients, but they also came from CNAs themselves, advocates for their own work.
It became clear that CNAs are frequently left feeling unseen, unrecognized, and unappreciated. The long hours, often unrelenting workloads, coupled with an expectation for a CNA to be calm, patient, and resilient, we don't think that any CNA should feel unappreciated.
With thousands and thousands of CNAs using the Clipboard App on a regular basis to book shifts to suit their schedule, we wanted to reach as many as possible with a campaign that democratized winning, a people's choice award in many ways.
Any person could nominate any CNA for our campaign. The most deserving or inspiring anecdote would win. Votes from our internal staff, support agents, engineers, designers, and more selected our Finalists and Winners. This process was truly inspiring…here is what one staff member had to say:
“I cried copiously reading such incredible stories. Staff reconnected to the human on the other end of daily interactions.“
Who Participated?
We received almost 800 nominations. A lot of these nominations were from CNAs themselves, nominating someone that inspires them, colleagues, friends or even themselves. Those that shared their own story wanted to both advocate for themselves but also tell us the moments that mattered to them and why they became a CNA.
We want to give you the chance to read some of these stories - they are posted in this eBook.
Other stories you´ll want to read
Our team at Clipboard has found it a privilege to gather such amazing stories and to select some special individuals to give an extra boost to.
Every single Nominee and Nominator has been sent a link to claim a Clipboard Pin, as a little gesture of our thanks.
And 18 further Finalists have been emailed with a collection of gifts from us, as a sign of their dedication and commitment to healthcare.
Eder Perdomo Hernandez, Angela Duncan, Angela Simmons, Brittany Hall, Elizabeth Erwin, Hector Perez, Jacora Brown, John Moses, Michael Aduba, Angela Johnson, Victoria Vilaysack, Edbony Jones, Janice Jones, Lori Lycett, Maritza Emmit, Mary Francis, Rosalyn Thomas, Skylar Lenora Friday.
Congratulations to each and every one who participated in the CNA Week Campaign “You're Unbelievable”. You are welcome to read more about their stories here.