Throughout the Emergency Department, Monitor Tech Michael Olels, CNA, can be found working patiently across the floor, bringing a cohesion to the department that his co-workers deeply value. His kind heart, warm demeanor and excellent communication skills help create a positive work environment, even in the most busy and hectic of circumstances. This is why Olels’ colleagues have nominated and selected him as the December Employee of the Month.

Olels grew up in Tieton, a small town in central Washington, just outside of Yakima. His father was a pastor who owned several nursing homes during Olels’ childhood with Olels’ uncles. Olels obtained an associated degree in Theology in Plano, Texas, but health care was not quite on his radar.

“The medical field was not in my background,” he said. “As a kid, I’d have to go in and help out here and there at the nursing homes. I was not interested at all in becoming a certified nursing assistant. I wasn’t sure what the next step would be after college.”

Olels’ uncle called him out of the blue and asked if he would train in the administrative program for the company that ran the retirement community where they worked. Olels worked at a facility in California, but when the company went bankrupt, he lost his job “overnight,” he said. He and his young family at the time decided to move to Shelton, where his in-laws lived, and Olels got a job at Mason General Hospital.

“I thought I was going to be here six months,” Olels said. “That was more than 21 years ago.”

Olels got his paramedic degree and worked as a CNA aide, floating around to different departments. He primarily worked in the Emergency Department. By 1999, he began to work as a Monitor Tech in the Emergency Department.

“I like it a lot,” he said. “I like that we don’t see the same things every day. I love working with people, and I like how it will be quiet on the floor and then all of a sudden, people can flood in. It changes every day and it’s never the same.”

Olels became certified as a CNA seven years ago, and as a monitor tech he answers phones and connects patients with the other services they may need at the hospital. For example, if an emergency patient comes in needing additional service, Olels will call around the hospital and ask which departments have a bed available and which rooms are clean. He communicates with providers, working to get connected with a hospitalist or radiologist on staff if an emergency patient needs one.

Outside of work, Olels has enjoyed coaching. He was the statistician coach for the Shelton Highclimbers for 22 years, and also was the assistant coach for junior varsity teams. He has worked as an emergency medicine technician and served as a youth pastor for Harvest FourSquare. He also enjoys fishing, walking and hiking now that his four children are grown and out of the house. His daughter, JoyMarie, lives in Olympia with her husband and two children; his eldest son, Isaac, has worked at Mason Health and now has a daughter and works in construction in Leavenworth; another son, Jordan, is a project manager in Seattle; and his youngest son, Josiah, lives in Shelton as an apprentice for a sheet metal unit.

“I have empty nest syndrome now,” said Olels, who for a time last year, moved to Florida for 10 months. “I am very appreciative of Mason General Hospital. We’re all family here, whether we know each other well or not. We have one goal, and that’s to help our patients, whether you’re a secretary at a clinic or you work in Environmental Services. Everyone makes the team work. Everybody deserves Employee of the Month. We can’t do it without one another. I’ve seen the other side, and the grass is not greener. I appreciate the hard work everyone does. It’s an honor and I appreciate every single other employee.”

Mason Health, Public Hospital District No. 1 of Mason County, is ISO 9001 Quality Management System certified by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and is a licensed and accredited acute care hospital with a level four emergency trauma designation. Mason General Hospital and Mason Clinic are ENERGY STAR® certified and Mason Health is the recipient of Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Environmental Excellence Awards. There are more than 100 physicians on staff in 19 specialties. For more information or to find a health care provider, visit www.masongeneral.com. To learn more about DNV, visit www.dnv.com/healthcare.