Tammy Ruiz, DKH Employee of the Month, Offers Small Gestures That Make a Big Difference

Often, it’s the little things that matter most – a smile, a helping hand, a warm and caring manner. Tammy Ruiz has been offering these qualities to patients and coworkers alike at Day Kimball Hospital for nearly 10 years. Those efforts were recognized this month when Ruiz was named Day Kimball Healthcare’s Employee of the Month.

A resident of Burrillville, Rhode Island, Ruiz has worked as a full time Patient Access Representative at Day Kimball Hospital since January, 2008. As such she is often one of the first people patients encounter when they receive care at the hospital. Ruiz is responsible for collecting patients’ demographic information, insurance and other information, and for informing patients about hospital and regulatory policies regarding the care that they will receive.

From insurance pre-certification to hospital admission, she essentially serves as a communications liaison between patients and the DKH Patient Services department, ensuring all the necessary information is in place for a smooth and seamless experience. It is Ruiz’s dedication to this effort, in both big and small but always consistent ways, which has earned her the designation of Employee of the Month by her peers.

For DKH Patient Access Manager Melissa Greene, that dedication and consistency has been highlighted more than ever in the past year.

“In the past year, Tammy has really gone above and beyond what is expected of her daily responsibilities,” Greene said. “Due to increased compliance measures, we had to implement changes that required our sickest oncology patients to stop at registration prior to each appointment in order to verify insurance information. Tammy took the initiative to obtain a listing of upcoming appointments daily and verified insurance information for each appointment in advance, so that our oncology patients could proceed directly to the point of care and avoid the extra burden of stopping at registration in their often weakened state.”

At a recent Employee of the Month celebration in her honor, Ruiz’s coworkers also commented on her initiative, her willingness to help – and her chicken wings.

“Tammy is one of the warmest, most wonderful people I know,” said Susan Shenker, a Patient Services Representative. “When someone calls out for third shift and we’re wondering who’s going to come in and work with us at three in the morning, we’re always happy to hear it’s Tammy. With her we never worry, she’s usually early and comes in carrying a crock pot. Her wings are amazing, and she’ll make them not only for us, but for the staff in the Emergency Department and the Lab, too!”

There were many nods of agreement among the crowd after this observation, and a few comments about whether or not Ruiz’s “dynamites” dish was even better than her wings. Greene brought the food discussion back full circle.

“Not only will Tammy will fill every open shift that she is able to, but she brings in food and feeds the department to help make a stressful job less stressful,” Greene said. “She is liked not only by her fellow coworkers but by her regular patients that have come to know her. She goes out of her way to be kind to our patients and has a smile on her face at all times, no matter what.”