LUTCHER —St. James Parish Hospital 2016 Employees of the 2nd Quarter are Monique Hymel and Melba Perez-Berguno.

Each was nominated by fellow staff and chosen by the Executive Leadership Team for their dedication to the hospital.

Hymel has worked at St. James Parish Hospital for nine years and serves as a medical technologist.

She is a 2007 graduate of Lutcher High School. After receiving her Phlebotomy certification in 2007, she then attended LSU Health and Science Center in New Orleans for Clinical Laboratory Sciences and graduated in 2013.

Hymel was nominated by Karen Ocmond, laboratory director, who states, “Hymel is a valuable employee. She has been stepping up as a leader from the first day she walked through our doors. She has great compassion for her job and takes pride in giving great service to our patients.”

Hymel said she truly loves what she does.

“Not many people know about this profession,” Hymel said. “We are more behind the scenes, but a very important part of a patient’s treatment and diagnosis.”

Perez-Berguno has worked at St. James Parish Hospital for two and serves as a social worker. She is a 1977 graduate of the school of Social Work at the University of Puerto Rico.

Education Coordinator Carolyn Bossier nominated Perez-Berguno, “Melba has an awesome attitude and has such dedication to our patients and her co-workers that it is easily visible for all to see. She has been known to stay late, just to make sure the process flows smoothly for her patients.”

Perez-Berguno said she is dedicated and enjoys the diversity and challenges encountered daily in the population the hospital serves.

“My standard of practice is to be thorough and go above and beyond in the delivery of social work services to address patient and family needs,” Perez-Berguno said. “At St. James Parish Hospital, we provide services in a unified, caring environment with an exceptional team of interdepartmental co-workers that makes our services a success! This recognition is shared with all of the teams.”