Phoenix Recognizes Three Staff Members for Leader of the Month in January
This month the award goes to Diane Berg, Priscilla Shaw, and Shawn Johnson.
This month, we awarded three wonderful staff members for Leader of the Month.
Diane Berg
I would like to recognize Diane Berg for Leader of the Month. Over the past few months, Berg has provided an extension of life for our 
individuals at English and has included the rest of Phoenix as well. She’s excellent at organizing vacations to Branson, holiday parties, and singalongs, especially when it was the first time taking a person who’s hardly ever traveled to Branson. For several years, she’s also planned the singalongs, where the community came to English House and sung with them.
More recently, Berg saw an opportunity for the individuals to be more engaged while they were at home. Instead of planning activities in the community, where in most instances they would be 1:1 with staff, she brought the community to the individual’s home for a social experience. She also organized the Arts and Craft and Music Therapy sessions, which take place on the fourth Tuesday of the month and include everyone in the home. However, this event didn’t stop at the doors of English—Berg extended this opportunity to all of those who were home during the day at Phoenix. Since its onset, Berg and her team have hosted events with multiple homes in attendance.
Thank you for all you have done and are doing for the people at English and for Phoenix!
Priscilla Shaw
Priscilla is so kind-hearted and dedicated in everything she does for The Phoenix Residence! She has been doing many items for the South Group independently. For example, she has been taking many of the on-call nursing shifts for several months now. Since Thanksgiving, she has also been providing a person’s IV antibiotic every day, including on the weekends when she’s not on-call. She even cooked a large home-cooked, from-scratch Thanksgiving meal for Newport home. I heard whispers they had turkey and ham. Priscilla is so compassionate with the individuals she provides nursing care for. She will bring in little gifts/rewards for the individuals to bring them everyday joyfulness, for example Chapstick, stickers, gum, a snack. Thank you Priscilla!
Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson goes out of his way to do the little things that make a difference for people. He hangs Christmas lights every year at some of our homes, repairs wheelchairs when Medical Assistance won’t, and he has even been known to bring a special meal to English House when he knows people are tired of Mike’s cooking! At a recent Phoenix gathering, one individual greeted Shawn with a smile while rubbing his belly—his way of saying “Time for another cheeseburger?”—a ritual they shared. He assists with van maintenance, works with managers to accomplish budgeted tasks, and will drop what he’s doing when help is needed at any of our homes. Shawn’s formal role is Environmental Services Coordinator, but his informal role is so much more—and that’s what gets him noticed! Thanks Shawn for all you do to support Phoenix!