Morris Hospital announces Fire Starter of the month for June

MORRIS – Morris Hospital recently recognized Melissa Hackett of Morris as its Fire Starter of the month for June.

Hackett, a member of the environmental services department, was nominated by a fellow co-worker foe her dedication, according to a news release.

“Melissa is a great asset to Morris Hospital,” a co-worker wrote in nominating Hackett. “She is dedicated to her job and her department, loves this organization, and feels a sense of belonging here. She takes pride in what she does and is willing to learn all aspects of Environmental Services.”

Hackett’s devotion to assuring clean linens are on hand and supplied through Morris Hospital for the last 17-years keeps patient care running smoothly. Some of her responsibilities include receiving the clean linen from an outside vendor, maintaining and stocking carts in the linen room and making sure ambulance linen packs are available daily.

She is willing to help wherever she is needed and takes pride in her responsibilities, keeping track of the linen coming in and leaving the hospital, so she is able to notify her manager when more needs to be ordered.

“Melissa knows her linen, and she knows her clinics,” said Ana Mendrick, manager of environmental services at Morris Hospital. “She is an excellent team member, always hard working and very reliable. I am very excited for her to receive this honor. For me, her dedication and hard work is gold.”

Hackett’s willingness to step away from her regular duties to assist with cleaning office space is appreciated by both her colleagues and superiors.

“Over the last several years in particular, Melissa has stepped out of her regular duties when needed to help with coverage and staffing issues,” said Sue Raikes, a supervisor in environmental services. “She is always willing to help and will even volunteer to come in an extra day when she sees that we are short staffed. That way, she knows everything will be ready to go when she comes in on Monday. She does whatever it takes to get the job done. She has a huge heart and is truly a team player.”

Hackett says her favorite part of coming to work every day is simply doing her job. She also enjoys seeing her co-workers and helping others.

“It feels good helping people,” she said.