You’ve probably heard of the DAISY Award, or the Service Excellence Employee of the Month Awards at TUH-Main Campus. But Marcus Appolon, BSN, RN, PMH-BC, Nurse Manager of Episcopal’s Crisis Response Center (CRC), wants the CRC’s Employee Recognition Awards to be just as famous.
These annual awards, which honor CRC employees who have consistently demonstrated exceptional merit, are in their second year. “I noticed that, while we have the DAISY Award for nurses, we didn’t have any awards that recognized our techs,” Appolon remembers. “We want to acknowledge the incredible efforts of our staff. Your commitment and dedication to performing your roles to the best of your ability don’t go unnoticed, and we deeply appreciate all that you do.”
After Appolon gave out last year’s awards, he noticed a significant increase in morale. “I saw it immediately,” he says. “You heard how thankful our employees were. They told me that this was what we should be doing for our staff. The response just made it that much more rewarding.”
“To determine the winners, my Assistant Nurse Manager, Lina Atkinson, and I rely on feedback from staff, interdisciplinary team members, and leadership,” Appolon explains. “When certain names are consistently mentioned each quarter, it helps us identify the standout candidates.”
This year’s winners come from each of the CRC’s three shifts: Kimberly Bradford (7 am-3 pm), Tanya Cromwell, MSW (3 pm-11 pm) and Derrick Brothers (11 pm-7 am). Read more about each of these team members below, and find out why we’re so fortunate to have them in the Crisis Response Center.
Derrick Brothers, Crisis Response Technician
“No matter what discipline you’re in—whether you’re a social worker, a nurse, a Crisis Response Technician, or a mental health tech—being appreciated goes a long way,” Brothers says. “People have no idea.”
Brothers, who has worked the night shift in the CRC for almost six years, understands the power of these kinds of awards. “I think we all want to be recognized,” he says. “This can be a challenging job, because you give so much of yourself to get someone else help when they’re dealing with disease or addiction or mental health struggles. When I got the award, it was like it replenished my energy.”
While being a Crisis Response Technician isn’t always easy, it allows Brothers to fulfill his lifelong passion. “I’ve always had a knack for helping people,” he says. “This is a way of doing that, and it makes me happy. My favorite part of my job is interacting with the patients who come in needing treatment. I love hearing stories and lifting them up if they’re feeling down, and just assisting them in any way possible.”
That makes him an integral part of the night shift, which gets an especially high volume of patients. “We have a really tight team,” Brothers explains. “My colleagues are really great. When I got the award, they were genuinely happy for me, and that made me feel good.”
When you hear Appolon talk about Brothers, it’s no wonder that he’s such a favorite among his coworkers. “I can honestly say I’ve heard people comment so many times on how great of a job he’s doing,” Appolon says. “He’s probably one of only two or three night shift full-timers who’s been here since I’ve first arrived, and he’s really stepped up to the plate. He makes magic happen.”
Kimberly Bradford, Crisis Response Technician
“I told my husband I wanted to get it framed,” Bradford says of the award. “I took it home, and I showed my family. Winning it meant a lot.”
Bradford, who spent 24 years as a social worker before becoming a Crisis Response Technician, excels at some of the most challenging aspects of the job. “I like doing pre-certifications, which means finding patients placements in the kinds of treatment facilities their doctors recommend,” she explains. “I enjoy it because it requires all types of skills. You need great communications skills, because you have to have established good relationships with these facilities. And you have to be able to advocate for the patient to the insurance company to get the level of care the doctor is recommending.”
Bradford also thrives in the dynamic environment of the Crisis Response Center. “I was on long-term units for most of my social work career,” she says. “But I really like the fast pace of the CRC. We do a great job assessing the patient, referring them to a treatment facility or another unit at Episcopal, and getting them to where they need to go.”
“When it comes to closing cases and getting patients out of the CRC, Kimberly is amazing,” Appolon says. “And she does a great job catching any mistakes and bringing them to my attention promptly.”
As a Crisis Response Technician, Bradford also performs several other duties in the CRC, including conducting bio-psychosocial assessments of patients during triage and caring for patients under 23-hour observation. “When I got this award, I felt like I was appreciated, and everything I do was being recognized,” she says.
“At first, I was very surprised. I was proud, but I was surprised,” she remembers. “But I work hard, so I told myself, ‘You do deserve this.’”
Tanya Cromwell, MSW, Crisis Response Technician
“I can’t say enough about Tanya,” Appolon insists. “When new staff members train with her, they ask me, ‘Hey, can I get an extra day with Tanya? She’s really helpful.’ All year, I’ve been hearing our new hires rave about how amazing she is as a trainer.”
“I try to do my job to the best of my ability,” Cromwell responds. “When I train new employees, I make up scenarios. I’ll act like I’m the insurance representative, and ask them to work with me. For me, hands-on is always the best way to learn, and they seem to think so too.”
Cromwell takes the same approach to working with patients in the CRC. “My favorite part of my job is being able to engage with the patient and meet their needs,” she explains. “A lot of times, we serve an at-risk population, and not everyone is kind to them. That’s why it’s so important that I understand what they need and work as hard as I can to help.”
Cromwell also believes that she and her colleagues can provide such exceptional care because they have a manager who sets them up for success. “We only operate the way we do because we have a manager who listens,” she explains. “You can go to Marcus with ideas, and he’ll see if those ideas will help us do our jobs more efficiently. If they do, he’ll implement them. I worked with him when he was a nurse in the CRC, and he hasn’t changed a bit.”
Appolon is just as sincere in his praise for Cromwell. “When we want to make sure our new talent is operating at the same level of excellence as our current employees, we have to have them trained by the right people,” he says. “It means a lot to have Tanya as their trainer, because we know we’re giving our new employees the best opportunity to succeed.”
It was no surprise, then, that Cromwell earned the award—and indeed, she’d had her eye on it all year. “When they first gave it out in 2023, I was like, ‘Yeah, I want that,’” she says with a laugh. “Anything I do, I try to do my best at. So I was excited when I found out I won, and I was happy for Derrick and Tanya as well, because I know for a fact that they work just as hard as I do.”
