Thanks for working here Thursday: Rene'e Michelena, CCMH Dialysis Center

Campbell County Health is proud of its employees, and we want the CCH family and the Campbell County community to know about the good work that they do for this organization.

Say hello to Rene’e Michelena, the Department Secretary for the Campbell County Memorial Hospital Dialysis Center. The Dialysis Center at CCMH provides dialysis treatments, testing services, support and education six days per week to meet the medical, financial, and social service needs of patients using hemodialysis and their families. For those who don’t know, hemodialysis helps keep patients in kidney failure in reasonable health.

Rene’e has a bachelor’s degree in organizational communication and a bachelor’s degree in English secondary education from the University of Wyoming. She’s worked at CCH for the past three years, but after she earned her first degree, she worked for several years as the Director of Membership services at the Colorado Health Care Association in Denver as a long-term care meeting and convention planner.

Her inspiration to pursue a career in health care stemmed from her parents. “My mom was always was a breath of fresh air – sharing her compassionate and loving strength with family members she was called on to provide long-term care. She always had a positive way about her – leaving everyone she cared for feeling encouraged when their situation may have been anything but encouraging. And, my papa received the Wyoming Department of Health’s Volunteer of the Year award. While my mom was in Buffalo’s care center, Papa was not only there caring for my mom every day, he was there assisting with other patients. Although my mom has passed, my papa finds his inspiration and purpose in continuing his caring ways with the patients at the care center,” she says.

Rene’e calls her supervisor, Lori Hoesing, her health care hero. “Lori is an exemplary nurse. She has the innate ability to soothe, comfort, and relieve patient anxieties, and at the same time provide highly skilled nursing care,” she says. She also feels that Lori brings out the best in everyone she is around, which makes being on the Dialysis team rewarding for Rene’e.

Outside of work, Rene’e enjoys playing with her two kitties who just-so-happen to be brothers, Coal and Tucker! “They are our loves and little fireballs around the house!,” she says. She also enjoys day trips, hanging out with her hubby, and taking a drive with some tunes in the background. “I love creating and designing in all things writing (everything from business/professional, letters, and everything creative), decorating, reading, and photography. Any chance I can take of photographing the extraordinary in the ordinary, I am one happy girl,” she says.

We asked Rene’e what she likes most about working for CCH, and what excellence every day means to her. Check out her response:

“I feel pride in all that I get to do at CCH; however, any time I can inspire a patient to smile is a time that makes me feel great. And if I can make a patient chuckle or laugh, even better! What I love about working in my department is the amount of information I have learned and the new skills gained in working with this information. Every day is a learning opportunity and every day is different. I definitely love the wide variety of work that I get to do every day.

To me, excellence every day is understanding that no one person is entirely responsible for providing excellent care. Excellent patient care is driven by the work of a team – everyone involved – and as a team member, I am responsible for striving to be the best form of me on any given day.”

Thank you, Rene’e for taking such great care of our patients in the Dialysis Center. We appreciate you.

Is there a CCH employee who went the extra mile or shows you extraordinary service? Give them a pat on the back by completing an Excellence Every Day card.