One of the folks Community honored at our annual Administrative Professionals Event, put it best: “Chaos ensues when we’re away.” So, so true.

 

The executive assistants who helped organize the administrative professionals’’ day event are from left to right  Juanita McCown, Monica Oliver, Cheri Beasley, Lynn Mackey, Jennifer Mackie,  Nancy Yung, Kimberly Schultz, Doris Ghattas, Kathi Scow, and Hope Donoho

It takes a team, but it really takes the administrative/office assistant, executive secretary, executive assistant, to make sure that team adheres to a calendar, remembers and recognizes each other’s birthdays, is well supplied with paper, pens, working copier, break room plates and has a free meeting room to meet in, agendas printed, and snacks and coffee to keep running on those really long days. And that’s just the little stuff. There’s a zillion other details that get taken care of without us noticing – until they’re gone. KUDOS to the folks that hold the rest of us together!
 
It’s been a long tradition at Community to give our busy department assistants a half day away to get together for lunch, fun and some learning that makes them even more valuable when they return to their desks.
 
Executive assistant Cheri Beasley who supports my VP and SVP in Communications, usually helps organize and emcees the event. “I love that it’s important to the corporation to host this celebration. It means that we are valued and our role is appreciated,” she says.  (Boy is that an understatement!)

 

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Diane Barmore, Melissa Smith, and Cheri Beasley enjoy the administrative professionals’ event.

“We do a lot in the corporation and this is the one time a year we get celebrated,” says Diane Barmore, executive secretary in Community Regional Medical Center’s emergency department. But what Diane really loves about the celebration is seeing other administrative professionals. “I find as the corporation is growing there are more and more folks I only know by phone or email. This year I was shocked at how many new people there were. I was finally able to say ‘Hello!’ and put a name to a face.”
 
Karen Thompson, executive secretary at the California Cancer Center, agrees, “The camaraderie and getting to meet face-to-face with those people you usually just talk to by email is the best part of the day. You really realize what a large administrative team we have.”

Just so everyone remembers to put faces with department duties, our Home Health administrative secretaries and office assistants have been known to show up at the event in matching T-shirts, says Michelle Crump, the department’s executive secretary. Michelle says she really enjoys the speakers ever year. “This year’s had a lot of great information and so many tools for us to organize our day-to-day lives,” she says.

 

Speaker Beth Ziesenis, who calls herself “Your Nerdy Best Friend,” keeps up on all the new online applications and downloads that can help organize your life and your boss

David Hartman, executive secretary for Patient Financial Services, joined CMC in October 2015 and says this is a not-to-be-missed event. “You get to meet and hear from an energetic speaker, see your compadres and there’s food, drinks and prizes!”
 
Those prizes are donated personally by our top C-suite leaders and ranged from a weekend away to $25 restaurant gift certificates and books from the day’s speaker.
 
This year’s speaker was Beth Ziesenis, who styles herself as “Your Nerdy Best Friend” and a tech geek. She keeps up on all the new online applications and downloads that can help organize your life and your boss. Her book makes the pitch that her advice “can help you look like you’re working with a team of marketing, computer and productivity experts.”
 
The administrative professionals in attendance called Ziesenis approachable, funny and super helpful. And true to form, Karen Thompson scanned the handout from the talk and emailed me a copy – even though she’s not the administrative super hero for our department. It’s just in her DNA to make life easier for those she comes in contact with.
 
To all our administrative professionals, we THANK YOU for all that you do!

Erin Kennedy
Senior Communications Specialist
Corporate Communications