Portraits of Barnabas: Hortensia Ray Alston-Hayes (2018)

The Barnabas Awards began a couple of years ago, designed by our leadership team to have our employees select the people who, on a quarterly and annual basis, inspire them to be their best by living the values of our Barnabas Culture.
 
Barnabas, a disciple of Jesus Christ, serves as an example of many attributes necessary for HealthKeeperz to operate as a strong, vibrant, Christ-honoring organization. Our approach to providing the highest standard of community-based health care services to the people of North Carolina, defined as our Barnabas Culture, seeks to promote and recognize HealthKeeperz team members who have served our company, our patients, and our people by being a Barnabas. 
 
Colleagues recognized at our quarterly and annual Barnabas Awards contribute to the HealthKeeperz mission of caring for all people for the glory of God. The ultimate goal of the Barnabas Culture at HealthKeeperz is to build a community of caregivers who are caring, selfless, humble, and encourage their teammates.
 
In this series, Portraits of Barnabas, we are highlighting the winners of the award. In the last few months, we’ve honored Janet Locklear of our hospice services division, Timmie Stultz of home medical equipment, and community health educator Tito Massol.  
 
Today, let’s enjoy a look at the life and work of Hortensia Ray Alston-Hayes, named winner of a Barnabas Award in the fourth quarter of 2017, as well as our annual “Super Barnabas” Award in 2018, at our recent Barnabas Awards Banquet. Hortensia, like our other cherished Barnabas Award winners, lives our mission and values on a daily basis in her work as a CAP social worker in our northeastern NC office in Elizabeth City.
 
Caring:  According to her co-workers at HealthKeeperz, Hortensia is a deeply caring person who, without fail, sends birthday cards and sympathy cards to all of the clients of the northeastern NC office. One of her teammates said, “She always puts others’ needs before hers, even if it means staying late or working through her own lunch just to listen and advise others.”
 
Selfless:  In one of the ultimate acts of selflessness we’ve seen among many at HealthKeeperz, Hortensia recently discovered that a deceased client’s son didn’t have a suit to wear to his mother’s funeral. According to her teammate, Hortensia gave the client’s son a selection of her late husband’s suits, so that he would have something nice to wear to the funeral and church.
 
Humble:  One teammate said that she often “hears about the blessings that Hortensia’s care bestows on others from THEM, not from her.” And while clients, their families, and co-workers value her expertise, Hortensia “never acts like anyone is imposing on her or is interrupting her workflow.” Truly, she lives with a servant’s heart.
 
Encouraging:  Hortensia is one of those folks who realizes that even with a great team at HealthKeeperz, we often rely on community partners to do our jobs well. Never taking these partners for granted, one of her teammates noted that Hortensia “paid to have cupcakes made for all of the area DSS Medicaid workers, hand-delivering them with a letter saying how much we appreciated their assistance at HealthKeeperz CAP.  She constantly promotes HealthKeeperz and our CAP program in the community, while inviting other entities in to explain their services and encourage CAP referrals.”
 
The HealthKeeperz family would like to again congratulate Hortensia Ray Alston-Hayes, winner of our Super Barnabas Award for 2018.  She’s had a huge impact on our company and those of us who have had the privilege of working with her, as we share the love of the Barnabas Culture with our clients, patients, and families.
 
Stay tuned to learn more about previous Barnabas Award winners in the coming months.
 
 
 
 

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