Employee of the Year: Danny Reyes

As he surveyed the caliber of candidates assembled around him, he realized that any of them could have been chosen. Besides, whether he won or not, he would still come into work every day and give 100 percent of himself to his job, to his coworkers. Which is surely one of the many reasons Danny Reyes was named Employee of the Year for 2004, taking home the first award of its kind at Community Hospital.

“To me, it was shocking,” says Reyes, who has worked for the hospital for nearly 18 years, most recently as an Environmental Services aide. “A lot of good people could have gotten this award; I wasn’t expecting to win. In fact, when they called my name, my body temperature instantly went up; I felt a fever and the ground got kind of spongy. It was a good feeling, and nerve-wracking at the same time. Even though I see lots of people all day, I am also kinda shy.”

Reyes works with and serves a lot of people in his daily rounds — setting up meeting sites, troubleshooting, and providing general housekeeping — which makes him visible, available, and appreciated.

“A lot of people within the department and throughout the organization put Danny’s name into the hat,” says Raul Lopez, director of Environmental Services. “To his credit, he interacts with everybody from the CEO to the Auxiliary. People know him throughout the hospital for his customer-service skills, for being proactive, for anticipating needs and acting on them. He’s highly organized, self-motivated, and responsible. Outside of that, he’s a really nice guy.”

Whether heading to a staff meeting, a board meeting, or a conference, participants know that if Reyes has prepared the site everything will be in place and ready to go. The room will be clean, the seating
arrangement will suit the event, the equipment will be present and functioning, and Reyes will be available to provide support.

“I can’t tell you how many kudos or compliments I get from other employees about Danny’s level of service,” says Lopez. “The job he does is a busy job. He’s constantly moving; he may have as many as
five meetings going on at once, and he can handle it. He takes pride in what he does for others. Whether
someone gives him a pat on the back or not, he gets an inner pleasure from knowing he did it well, met a deadline, kept things organized. It’s just who he is.”

Congratulations to our other nominees: Araceli Alfafara, Tanya Anistratenko, Barbara Jean Avila, Anna Brownfield, Eric LoMonaco, Carmelita Masangkay, Dharma Naidu, Rose Oliver, Suzanne White.