Sometimes it’s the seemingly small things that have the biggest impact. When the washing machines in the S.S. La Rabida broke down, Marilyn Clifton, theEnvironmental Services (EVS) Manager, wasted no time finding a way to make sure our patients still had clean clothes to wear.

She knew kids feel more comfortable in their own clothes, not hospital gowns. This is especially important for our patients who don’t have families to visit them.

“It’s just something in your heart that makes you feel good. I like cleaning and helping people.”

She comes from a family of helpers. Her dad worked in community outreach and her mom was a baker for Chicago Public Schools. She learned early on she wanted to do something for a living that made people feel good.

“I have a passion about what I do,” she says.

That passion is evident to both her patients and her team.

For the last seven years she’s led them through construction, staff shortages, and – perhaps most importantly – a pandemic.

She believes the La Rabida experience starts with her department. For example, while doctors and nurses directly treat the patients, it’s her staff who makes the hospital feel clean, safe and welcoming. She makes the hospital a home.

Marilyn met the challenges of the pandemic head on, advocating for cutting-edge cleaning products and making sure infection prevention could scientifically measure the cleanliness of each room.

“It was a scary situation. People were losing their lives,” she says.

In part, because of her efforts, our patient population was kept safe.

While most of her work is done behind the scenes, her co-workers say she’s the heart and soul of the hospital – caring for her team, and the patients.

“People need to be happy at work,” Marilyn says. “If you ask anybody in the hospital they say I always spoil my team. I have to spoil them. I was in their shoes once before.”