YOUR WEEKLY EMPLOYEE NEWS UPDATE

Dear Staff:

Hope you had a great holiday and many thanks to everyone for ensuring that our residents had a great holiday season, especially those who were here on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

As part of Campus Connections, we have included Father Jack's letter from last week (highlighted and linked below) and just wanted to make sure that everyone saw the news about the $0.50 increase for all staff that went into effect on 12/24/2023. This increase follows the $1.00 increase we gave in July. This new increase will be the seventh staff increase in the last 3 ½ years. We hope you know how much we appreciate your commitment to our residents and their families.

We wish you a Happy New Year and hope it is full of great health, happiness and joy. As always, know that you are making a difference each and every day!

Sincerely,

Mary Pat

Click here to read the letter shared on Friday, December 22.

YEAR IN REVIEW

Please continue reading for highlights from 2023. We thank everyone for checking out Campus Connections each week to stay informed about everything happening within our community.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR EMPLOYEE SERVICE AWARD WINNERS

Pictured: Vanessa Zuniga, Nicole Williams, Elisabeth Devik, Emily Hansen, Regina Moore

With over 80 employees who received nominations from their peers for the Service Award, last Wednesday, December 18, we were happy to announce the following state who received our annual honor of excellence:

Vanessa Zuniga (Village Nurse)
Nicole Williams (Marian Center DSP/OJT Trainer)
Elisabeth Devik (HR Coordinator)
Emily Hansen (Village Lead QIDP)
Regina Moore (McAuley CNA)

We truly appreciate them for the positive impact your contributions have on the lives of our residents and our Misericordia community.

SNAPSHOTS OF 2023

Please scroll down to view pictures of residents and staff dressed up for Spirit Days, enjoying enrichment and social events, special moments from their lives outside of Mis, and supporting and celebrating each other. For more pictures, click here. This was a year our community could enjoy being together, and we look forward to capturing many more occasions in 2024.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

SHARE YOUR MOVIES WITH US

It is said that movies can change one’s perception of themselves and the world, “building deeper understandings of different backgrounds and identities.”

This quarter, we invite you to share such meaningful movies with us, by dropping the movie title here and telling us why it’s important to you.

Here is a recent submission from staff:

"Magnolia does a beautiful job of illustrating how life experiences, trauma, patterns play out in our individual lives and influence our present day. Though all characters experiences vary, the characters all experience similar emotions. Just like in real life, our stories may differ from one another but we can all relate to experiencing similar emotions."—Nathalie Virgil

"Charlie Bartlett. I couldn't get tickets to a broadway show, so my friend and I saw this movie instead in New York. We danced, skipped, and jumped home. Something felt intrinsically good in this movie. It showed people struggling and that there is even joy when things feel hard or low. You can find joy in all things if you are willing to see it."—Jessica Disbrow

Earlier this year readers shared nearly 70 songs that uplift them that we included on our Misericordia "Empowerment Anthems" playlist!

Click here to listen to all of them, and thank you to everyone who participated!

SEE MORE HIGHLIGHTS BY CLICKING THE LINKS BELOW

Employee Gratitude Grams

The Day Services STEM Fair and Pumpkin Decorating Contest

The Jesse White Tumbling Team at our 41st Annual Family Fest

Residents Appreciation Day

The 26th Annual Artist In All

IT PAYS TO READ CAMPUS CONNECTIONS

As part of showing our appreciation for the work that you do, we hosted raffles throughout the year for our Campus Connections, and here are some hot tickets they've won:

2023 Chicago Auto Show

The 2023 Artist In All
Winners: Amy Roman (McAuley) & Christina Equitz (CILA)

The Chicago Sky Game
Winner: Maighyn Magee (Marian Center)

Taylor Swift Eras Tour
Winners: Alma Martinez (McGowan)

TELL US WHAT’S ON YOUR 2024 BUCKET LIST

Whether it's baking a cake from scratch, flying on an airplane for the first time, reading 50 books, or anything else you hope to accomplish in the new year, we'd love for you to tell us about them. Your responses will be published in Campus Connections!

Click here to share something that's on your list!

Here are our latest:

"Getting married!!! Sept. 2024. And in 2023: Got into OT school at Rush!!"—Heather Kauss

"Saving up to be able to buy income property this upcoming year. And in 2023: Joining Misericordia"—Mieka Matthews

Additionally, if you set any for yourself that came to fruition in 2023, please let us know.

As always, thank you for reading. We wish you a safe and happy New Year!

Stay tuned for weekly Campus Connections updates sent via email.

To find previous Campus Connections issues and updates, click here.

If you have any questions or feedback for us, email campusconnections@misericordia.com. Be sure to include your name, work area, and an extension we can use to contact you!