Our National Ceca Awards received media coverage from the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio featuring Stephanie Banks, and the Excelsior Springs Standard in Kansas City covering Ashley Crawley’s award celebration.

Ceca Healthcare Partner Arosa, an integrated care management provider, was featured in an article in HomeCare Magazine about their marked expansion and success in honoring their careworkers.

Please join us in congratulating Mourine Evans on being named Black Nurse of the Year from the Black Nurses Association of the Greater Washington, DC Area. Mourine has served on Ceca's Board of Directors for several years, committing her talents to growing and improving the Ceca Award. She is also the Program Director for Conway Nursing Pathway Program at Children’s National Hospital where she helps aspiring nurses establish rewarding careers in pediatric nursing. Her expertise and impact on the field makes her more than deserving of this honor.

Here at Ceca Foundation, we continually find ourselves humbled and honored to be able to recognize the amazing work of caregivers in our healthcare communities. But most importantly, we are moved by the emotions when a caregiver is recognized—whether it’s tears, cheers, or sheer surprise, we can visibly see the impact that recognition has.

That’s why we are excited to say that since Ceca’s inception in 2013 we have: Recognized over 42,000 exceptional acts of care, honored nearly 12,000 caregivers, and presented the Ceca Award to more than 1,300 recipients. See our full infographic.

We are delighted to welcome Chablis Davis to the Ceca Team. Chablis is Ceca’s new Partnership Engagement Manager, with her role being focused predominantly on fostering relationships with Ceca’s Healthcare Partners and ensuring the Ceca Award program runs smoothly. She supports both operational and marketing and communication efforts for the program, engaging with partner leadership and caregivers alike. She has held communications and workforce development positions at various nonprofit organizations in the D.C. area, and has most recently worked in Talent Acquisition with companies such as Inova Health System, WireWheel, and Amazon Advertising. Read her full bio.

Each year, we ask our Healthcare Partners to use Employee Appreciation Week to hold a special event and promote the initiative we call Ceca “Celebrating Caregivers” Day. Keswick Multi-Care Center in Baltimore had a fun time with lots of food, t-shirt giveaways, and a fun-filled celebration of their most recent Ceca Award Honoree, Teirra Claiborne (center). Focus Healthcare Solutions in Kansas City laid out a nice spread for any caregivers that came to the office that day (see below).

While we believe it’s important to celebrate extraordinary acts of caregiving every day, Ceca Day is intended to foster participation in the program and create additional recognition for our partners’ team members. We appreciate our partners that supported this effort and created a day of extra recognition for their team members!

Ceca Foundation President, Nate Hamme, recently sat down with Healthcare Industry Veteran, Shawn Howe, to discuss the current state of healthcare staffing, misconceptions about what employees across the continuum of care want from their employers, and how the “science of recognition” can be a major contributor to the retention of great staff. In the webinar recording they covered: why recognition is crucial to improving employee retention, increasing engagement and positively influencing the healthcare experience; understanding the difference between employee appreciation efforts and caregiver recognition, and tips for integrating employee recognition into your total rewards benefit package to make it a core part of your company culture.