SHELTON, Wash. – With his calm and confident manner, Ron German, RRT, provides thorough and considerate care to patients in Respiratory Therapy, and his peers recently selected him as Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics’ July Employee of the Month.

“This gentleman is an employee extraordinaire,” said German’s nominator. “He is a patient advocate and a staunch supporter of Mason General Hospital and Family of Clinics. He does his work in a quite unassuming way … He moves quietly but gives everyone confidence that all is being done and done correctly, and it is.”

German’s nominator went on to say that she had witnessed German’s work firsthand when her family member came in as a patient.

“He explained everything thoroughly and explained it again, and also why it was done this way,” she said. “He was friendly and very respectful of both the patient and the family members. When it was time for discharge he again explained the medication, said if there were any questions when we got home to be sure and call. We were all very impressed with his care.”

German grew up in Federal Way and worked at an industrial warehouse in his 20s. When the warehouse shut down, he researched options and chose to go back to school for respiratory therapy. He went on to work for 14 years at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

German and his wife, Roni, and their son, Ronald, decided to move back to Washington more than a decade ago, in search of a slower-paced life.

“Working at a very large hospital, where I was a night shift supervisor, it was so chaotic,” said German, who lives with his family on Trails End Lake in Belfair. “It was so busy and always short-staffed. Coming out here, where we have family and a cabin, it’s a slower atmosphere. To get to work, I have two stop signs and it’s all through Green Diamond and Simpson Lumber Company land. I just have to watch out for deer. It’s very pleasant, no stress.”

German enjoys the small-town atmosphere of Mason General Hospital and the variety he experiences at work, where he gets to work in multiple departments.

“I like that you’re not stuck in one place like ICU or Medical Surgery,” he said. “I cover the whole hospital and get to work in a lot of different places with a lot of different people. Everyone works great together. It’s so much more pleasant to work here.”

When he’s not working, German is at home keeping busy on home improvement projects (he recently remodeled his kitchen and deck) and chopping firewood all year long.

“There’s always something at the house,” he said. “Working for this little hospital has been a really great experience. A lot of us have come from larger hospitals and we’re all in the same mindset about how nice it is to have a slower speed and get to work much closer to the people. We always say, ‘Wow, this is much more pleasant than what we were used to.’”

MGH&FC is certified by Det Norske Veritas - Germanischer Lloyd (DNV-GL) and is a licensed and accredited acute care hospital with a level four emergency trauma designation. There are more than 100 physicians on staff in 19 specialties.  MGH&FC now offers Virtual Care ‒ 24/7.  For more information on Virtual Care or to find a health care provider, go to www.MasonGeneral.com.