A Story on Employee Engagement at UPMC Altoona

• February 20, 2015

"I am writing to say a big "thank you" to your housekeeping staff at UPMC. Although each and every housekeeper treated our family with very much respect, and I must say his room was ALWAYS clean and our privacy was ALWAYS respected, my father has been on many different floors and every housekeeper would always ask us how my father was doing during his MANY stays at your hospital or if they could get us anything, and they were wonderful! But I have to admit one girl sticks in my mind, she was there in our darkest hours, she was truly a face of an angel, her name is Lynette.

As I stood in a waiting room all alone crying not knowing if my father was going to pull through his illness or not, she stopped to ask if I was "OK" and if there was anything she could do for me. Lynette did everything she possibly could for us, she had gone above and beyond, she had taken me to the office to get a room across the street, when she could have just told me where to go, but seeing how upset we were at the time, I think she knew the directions would not stick in my head so she took the time out of her work to walk there with me. Lynette had offered to get us coffee, blankets, she made sure my elderly mother was warm, and most of all she stopped to lend an ear when we needed it the most, she is truly an outstanding person.

We saw her in the lunch room and were going to buy her meal, but she carried her lunch, I guess Lynette just seemed to know when we needed her most, or to us, it seemed like she knew.

And most of all when my father pulled through his illness and he was taken off the ventilator, we celebrated "DAD is going to make it!". Again, Lynette was there to smile with us while she was still just cleaning away. During our many times at UPMC it seems like she had become our extended family while still preforming and doing an outstanding job cleaning.

So I thought her boss should be told just what an outstanding person Lynette is, along with the other housekeepers who were so good to us during my father's stay at UPMC. Again a big thank you!"

–Patient Family Member at UPMC Altoona

Xanitos would like to thank Lynette and the team at UPMC Altoona, as well as all of our housekeepers, for their continuous hard work and dedication to the patients, their families, and the facilities in which they serve.