Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Health Care Unions

Humans of Partnership: Kellie Butchino

Portrait of a smiling woman with short hair

Our goal is the same: to keep everyone safe. Managers and employees from the nurse treatment room, lab, radiology and pharmacy worked together and kept making refinements to meet our patients’ needs. For example, we moved COVID-19 testing into the nurse treatment room when it became apparent that patients needed additional services from lab, pharmacy and radiology. It helped that we had a strong foundation in the Partnership and the tools of unit-based teams. We all faced the challenge from a different perspective, and we came up with a resolution pretty quickly. It was the epitome of collaboration; it was fantastic! Joy in work for me is my motivation to turn a patient visit into a better experience through empathy and connecting with the patient.

Kellie Butchino, certified medical assistant, SEIU Local 49 (Northwest)