On October 15, 2018, the first of an expected long term series of annual Tirabassi Memorial Awards were presented to five very deserving D’Youville employees.
Nine other staff members who were nominated for the awards were also recognized in a ceremony conducted in the Commodore Lane Dining Room in D’Youville’s Alzheimer’s and other memory loss (dementia) Special Care Unit.
Thanks to the generosity of the Tirabassi family, a sufficiently large donation was made to support this first series of five $1,000 cash awards as well as to generate investment earnings that will fund similar awards for many years to come.
The Tirabassi family was very appreciative of the care that their wife and mother received in the Special Care Unit during the last four years of her life. They observed that it was from many of the employees in the SCU, not only RNs, LPNs and CNAs, but staff members who work in Dining Services, Housekeeping, Laundry, Activities/Life Enrichment, Rehab and Maintenance, who also contributed to her quality of life and that of the other SCU residents. The family wanted to express its gratitude for those staff members by making a gift that would be meaningful to D’Youville employees. This led to the idea of making annual cash awards to a selected number of employees.
Full-time and part-time employees who work in the SCU full- or part-time are eligible for the Tirabassi awards, as long as they have been employed by D’Youville for at least one full year, and are in good standing.
Award recipients were selected from among nominations according to the following criteria:
- Consistent demonstration of excellence in performing his or her job responsibilities,
- Demonstrated commitment to D’Youville’s Mission of compassionate care, and
- Examples of how the work that the nominee has performed and how he or she has contributed to the enrichment of the lives of SCU residents.
All 14 nominees received certificates documenting their status as a nominee and the honor that this represented. Each of the five Award recipients also received a check for $1,000, to be used as each one wishes.