Faith Community Health System is proud to celebrate employees of Hispanic heritage every day, and especially during September — Hispanic Heritage Month.
Idalia Flores, supervisor of housekeeping for the health system’s environmental services department, has been caring for the hospital and its patients for 27 years. Her longtime friend and employee, Rosi Rivas, began working at Faith as a housekeeper 14 years ago.
When Flores and Rivas speak of “house” keeping, they say they really see it more of “home” keeping.” Faith and the patients who come for care are guests in their “home,” and they are committed to making sure anyone who comes by — for an hour or a longer stay — is comfortable and has the best experience possible!
“When you go anywhere and it’s not clean, you get a bad impression. No one wants to come to a place, especially for healthcare, that doesn’t look like someone is caring for it,” Flores said. “We don’t want that at Faith — ever. It’s very important to my team to always have the hospital looking its very best.”
Flores and Rivas came to Jacksboro from Zacatecas, Mexico. Rivas arrived in 1994 as a single woman and moved in with her sister and aunt. In 1998, she married and has a 19-year-old daughter now. Flores brought her two children to Jacksboro to join her husband in Jacksboro and has since had two additional kids.
Both women are proud of their Mexican heritage and their commitment to Faith. They said they consider interacting with patients as a bonus of doing their work. “Sometimes they ask about the weather or if we have kids,” Rivas said.” They always want to talk; I think it makes them feel less alone. And it makes me happy to help them.”
Part of a team of 10 housekeepers, the women said the entire close-knit team enjoys interacting with the patients.
“Everyday, we do everything possible to try our best to keep the hospital clean and the patients happy,” Flores said.