Whenever anyone asks about Shamika Jenkins, the first observation made is about her infectious smile and enthusiastic personality.
Customer service isn’t just a specific portion of an employee’s job description, it affects a patient’s entire experience. As a clerical secretary, Jenkins comes in contact with just about every patient that checks in during her early morning shift. In the Pavilion for Women Surgery department the patient’s experience begins with her warm welcomes and persistence.
“Although it can be pretty busy, I love meeting all different kind of people,” Jenkins said. “There are times when some people may be in a bad mood, a wonderful mood, some may be lost, and others are as upbeat and cheery as I am. Regardless, it gives me joy to encounter all moods because no matter what, I’m here to make their day.”
The waiting area can be the most quiet and uneventful time during a patient’s hospital visit. Either following check in, during an appointment, or after surgery as a patient recovers, patients and their families can potentially spend hours sitting in the lobby. Jenkins has transformed her role into not just checking patients in for their appointments, but makes them feel comfortable as well.
“Shamika is always the pretty, smiling face and helpful person in the waiting room,” Nursing Manager of Pavilion for Women Perioperative Services, Aleli Cabali said. “Shamika goes above and beyond to make sure that families in the waiting room are updated while patients are in the operating room.”
Jenkins’ diligence and consistence in making sure all surgery patients are called and scheduled for their appointments helps both patients and her co-workers, and is what allows the department to continuously provide high quality care.
“I remember a time when several people from the department had to go on vacation, and Shamika called patients ahead of time and scheduled their appointment to make it easier on the rest of the team,” Cabali said. “This was a big help to the unit and is why she deserves this award.”
Jenkins says despite the constant verbal recognition that she receives, she was not expecting to get a hospital-wide award.
“To be honest I didn’t see this coming,” she said. “I just come into work, do my job, and always remember to be myself; that is probably what excites me the most about being recognized. When working at Texas Children’s you have to be ready to put your ‘A game’ on every day. We have people come from everywhere so we need to make sure we maintain that great customer service consistently, and I am more than happy to be that example.”