East Washingtonian - Your Hometown News Source

Garfield County Hospital District is proud to announce April's Employee of the Month, Anna Wessels, Environmental Services. She was nominated by her co-workers who state, "She is always willing to help out whenever she can," remarked her co-workers.

Anna is originally from Pomeroy, Washington. When she was a year old, she moved to the neighboring community of Dayton, Wash. She attended grade school in Dayton Elementary and then in 2010, her family relocated back to Garfield County where her mother worked at the hospital for a number of years. Anna graduated from Pomeroy Junior/Senior High School in 2019.

Her earliest work experience began with babysitting jobs during her high school years. Coming from a large family, taking care of children came naturally as she is the youngest of ten. She also worked part time as a waitress at a local restaurant for several months. After graduation, she worked for a summer at Dye Seed Ranch as a Scale Operator.

In August of 2019, Anna became employed at the hospital working as a housekeeper in Environmental Services. Among the normal job duties in this position, the responsibilities of following the procedures of disinfecting common areas throughout the hospital and clinic has always remained an important one especially now in light of the recent CDC recommendations.

Most recently in March of this year the Emergency Room (ED) had to be re-arranged to meet the requirements of the Washington Department of Health regarding the COVID-19 crisis. Anna was asked to drop what she was doing and assist in the ED which she did without hesitation. She jumped right in, cleaning the entire department while working around several staff members who were helping to re-organize the room. "She is good about helping out when asked," they said. Everyone was impressed with how spotless, fresh, and clean the ED floors looked in such a short time.

In November of 2019, HUGS Auxiliary generously donated a floor burnisher to be used throughout the entire facility and clinic, and a carpet cleaner for the administration side of the hospital. Anna has mastered the art of running this new piece of equipment and is known for her exceptional ability when cleaning the floor surfaces of the facility. Several staff have taken notice of how nice they look and commented, "Have you seen her floors?" referring to the shine and polish of the breezeway and the Swing Bed side of the hospital. "She goes the extra mile, above and beyond."

"Anna is wonderful to all of our residents. She is always helpful, smiles a lot, and friendly to staff." When asked what she like best about her job, she replied, "I like that I get to help people and make sure things are clean." One of her best attributes is her optimistic and confident demeanor. "Anna is always kind and super helpful with an upbeat and positive attitude. She is a wonderful asset to our hospital and a great employee." We appreciate all that you do Anna.