“I saw some of the other nurses wearing them and I asked, ‘Where do you get those?’” Heart Hospital of New Mexico at Lovelace Medical Center charge nurse, Jessica Jewell, RN, recalls of the moment she finally had to stop and ask. What began in 2013 spread like wildflowers, as brightly-colored badge clips resembling the Lovelace daisy were popping up on nurse badges everywhere. “At least half to three-fourths of the nurses have them. When there’s new inventory, the word spreads fast and then they’re gone again.”
The not-so-well-kept secret among the nurses began to catch the attention of others. “I saw the nurses walking around with these flowers on their badges and I said, ‘Where did you get that?’” remembers Amy Hahn, Human Resources Business Partner for the hospital. It wasn’t long before she discovered the source for herself. “There is a shoebox full of these flowers.”
“I don’t spend too much time,” Margarita Rodriguez, EVS tech, says bashfully. “In about two hours I can make around 25.” Over the last three years, Margarita has perfected the process of creating by hand the highly sought-after pieces that affix to hospital employees’ name badges. Inspired by the Lovelace daisy, Margarita had the idea to customize the badge clips as merely something she could do for others. “I make them, because I think it is nice. I like to make other people happy.”
“I remember she brought out this huge box and said, ‘Which one do you want?’” recalls Jessica of picking out her first flower badge clip. “I asked her how much I owed and she wouldn’t take any money.”
“No one pays,” Margarita defends. “I spend my own money making things for other people. It makes me feel good. The nurses are happy and the patients are happy.”
Walking into a patient room, down a busy corridor or into the cafeteria wearing one of Margarita’s badge clips gives employees a sense of community. “It is fun and gives us camaraderie,” shares Jessica. “We all go to Margarita!”
“Everyone knows me,” Margarita beams.
More than the creative mind behind the popular badge clips, hospital staff know Margarita for her ongoing generosity and commitment to thinking of others.
“Her giving nature goes a long way,” adds Amy of how a simple act of kindness has become a tangible extension of the hospital’s vision to be the best place to care and to be cared for. “This just shows that is being heard by all of our employees. Margarita is special. What she is doing for the nurses makes people proud of where they work.”
“The patients and families notice,” Jessica says of the colorful pieces that give everyday scrubs a little personality. “We’re proud to say that one of our own housekeepers made them. We see the love and the time that it takes to make them. We’re proud of her!”
In 2016, Margarita was recognized as the hospital’s Healthcare Hero award winner for the month of December for the impact she has on both the patient and employee experience. Her dedication to Lovelace, her work and to genuinely caring for others received well-deserved attention. Receiving, however, is something Margarita prefers to be on the other side of.
“This is my style,” Margarita says thoughtfully. “I don’t like to receive. I like to give.”