SHELTON, WA – As Mason Health’s Behavioral Health Facilitator, Crystal Diemert utilizes her deep empathy for patients to help them navigate their behavioral health needs and a provides a loving ear over the phone when a patient needs someone to listen to them. Diemert’s sensitivity and her caring nature are major reasons why her peers selected her as the May 2023 Employee of the Month.

“I have always been drawn to people struggling with mental health,” Diemert said. “My family experiences and my own family going through that makes me more sensitive to people that are struggling with mental health. It’s where my heart is.”

Diemert has been Mason Health’s Behavioral Health Facilitator since August 2019, when the position was first created, but her history with Mason Health goes further back.

Diemert started in 2002 and worked as an administrative assistant in HIM for three years. She then worked as an administrative assistant for the Chief Nursing Officer, while also taking on the role of the volunteer coordinator for the District. After a year and a half working with nursing staff, Diemert continued on as the volunteer coordinator while also supporting Mason Health’s Education Department. She left in 2010 to pursue a Psychology degree at the University of Washington-Tacoma.

When she finished her degree, she waited for a position to open at Mason General Hospital. She was re-hired in 2014 in Discharge Planning, and ended up in Behavioral Health in 2019, right as Mason Health was expanding its behavioral health offerings. During her time at Mason Health, Diemert, met her husband, Gary Diemert, Mason Health’s Director of Information Technology and Security, and they have been married more than 20 years.

“It took a while to get where I’m at, but my experiences are what have helped me to understand our patients better,” she said. “Mason Health is a great place to work and feels more like a family than any of the other places I have worked.”

Diemert currently case manages patients, following up with them to see why they might have missed appointments, and she helps them get connected to resources they may need. She is often the person that is called in a crisis and she works tirelessly behind the scenes doing what she can to schedule a patient as soon as possible with behavioral health providers. In many cases, she calls the Mason-Thurston behavioral health crisis team to visit patients depending on the severity of the case.

In her free time, Diemert loves to travel and spend time with her husband, her grown sons and grandchildren. She also likes to sew and bake.

Mason Health, Public Hospital District No. 1 of Mason County, is celebrating 55 years of serving patients and the community this year. Mason Health 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 and Greening the OR 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.

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