Re-Igniting the Spirit of Caring (RSC) Facilitators

Theresa Pak a.k.a. Tpak is a nurse with over 30 years of experience who has worked in many different states and clinical areas from ER to ICU. Her roles have ranged from bedside nurse to nursing supervisor, as well as inpatient manager in various units at UC Davis Health. She has led her units through transitions, such as adopting the care of pediatric patients into the adult care arena and transforming mixed level acuity unit to cardiology ICU. She also supported MSICU Gold to Gold Beacon designation of critical care excellence for the past 9 years.

Tpak is also one of the original Re-Igniting the Spirit of Caring facilitators, the Relationship Based Culture (RBC) anchor program started in 2004. In 2017, in support of developing RBC based on values of Love Compassion Integrity and Courage, she helped adopt two more Creative Healthcare Management programs, See Me As A Person (SMAAP) and Leading An Empowered Organization (LEO). Additionally, in 2010 Tpak helped make RBC more inclusive and reached out to other disciplines outside of PCS. She has helped grow the program from 4 nurse facilitators to 31 facilitators from different disciplines. At UC Davis Health, Tpak is a champion of Wellness throughout. Most recently, Tpak completed the TNT fellowship through Peter Yellowlees MD CWO and has collaborated with others to bring meditation practices to UC Davis Health. She has also taken on facilitating the DEI workshops, working with School of Nursing and the DEI council to provide education, training, and resources to nurses. Tpak is a trained facilitator for all three programs, RSC, LEO, and SMAAP, and currently manages the LEO course load.

Carina is an R.N. lactation consultant who is based out of D3/T3 University Birthing Suites/Women’s Pavilion but gets to travel throughout the hospital as consults allow. Nursing and lactation consulting is a second career for Carina. She misguidedly thought she wanted to be a wildlife biologist for a decade, but is way too extroverted for that work. Being a nurse lactation consultant is her dream job. She is most fulfilled by her roles teaching Baby Basics and Breastfeeding classes to patients, teaching other healthcare workers about lactation support, and facilitating authentic conversations on the new parent support group every week. Her goal is not that every parent breastfeed, but instead that every parent start their life as a family feeling confident and competent in the decisions they make about the care and feeding of their infant. She is fascinated by the complexity of human decisions and communication and is committed to practicing vulnerability in relationships. Carina has always been passionate about the experience of healthcare work, team building, and the way we keep ourselves fulfilled and motivated, and is very excited to begin facilitating RSC in 2023.

Makeda has worked as a clinical nurse since 2015 in adult medical/surgical telemetry units. As a clinical nurse in the Cardiology unit, she is also involved in the Unit Based Practice Council and promoting unit engagement. She values education and believes learning is a wonderful life journey that is everlasting. She enjoys reading non-fiction, autobiographies, and medical-thought publications. She carries Compassion and Courage with her throughout her daily professional and personal interactions. She now facilitates Re-Igniting the Spirit of Caring and enjoys sharing what she has learned to her UC Davis colleagues.

Erin has been in the PICU for 17 years and is enjoying her CNIII role there. She helped start the Peer Support Team there and is one of the teachers for the hospital-wide class. She is passionate about advocating for her patients and supporting her colleagues to stay whole and really feel supported to be their best for themselves and everyone around them. She has been facilitating RSC since 2017 and is delighted that Relationship-Based care has been extended to all parts of the health system and is excited to be a part of this revolution in health care systems.

Colleen is a CNIII in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where she has worked on night shift for twenty years. Colleen loves facilitating both See Me As A Person and Reigniting the Spirit of Caring because she believes in the transformative power of this work. She is excited to share her passion for relationship-based care. In her off time, Colleen enjoys spending time with her husband and three kids and being outdoors as much as possible enjoying the beauty of nature.

Randy has 5 years experience as a registered nurse inclusive of emergency department care coordination and bedside nursing. He has been with UC Davis health since 2019 and has fulfilled various roles throughout UC Davis Health. Randy helped organize and run the Scottish Rites Mass Vaccination Center during the height of the COVID Pandemic, assists with Employee Health’s Annual FLU/COVID Vaccinations, has been/is the Chair of different inpatient Unit Based Practice Councils, and recently became a Reigniting the Spirit of Caring Facilitator after completing the practicum in 2022.

Jessica is inspired by mindfulness, positive psychology, sociology and wellness and their intersections in healthcare professional development. She excels at guiding professionals toward creating and thriving in relationship-based cultures. Jessica is a skilled facilitator and collaborator. She brings complex science to life with clear tools for application and usually manages to integrate a bit of humor and reality along the way. She has provided mindfulness and wellness consult and program development for health care organizations and Fortune 500 Companies privately. Jessica has served both the public and private health care sectors as an educator and administrator serving low-income populations, health care and fire professionals and C-Suite executives at the California Department of Public Health. At the County level, Jessica served on multi-disciplinary teams to provide equal access to care for newly diagnosed clients needing HIV/AIDS and Communicable Disease services. Jessica has a vast array of health and wellness experience and works collaboratively with health care professionals to offer broad perspectives and create “a-ha moments” for course participants. Jessica is a trained facilitator for SMAAP and RSC.

Monica is a CN3 in the MICU and has been a nurse for 28 years, She serves on the Bioethics and Schwartz Rounds Committees, and teaches classes on palliative care communication and end of life care. Monica facilitates both Reigniting the Spirit of Caring and See Me as a Person and is inspired by the meaningful connections and relationships that develop during these sessions. Her hobbies include travel, gardening, and making candles.

Mercedes serves as the Director of Multicultural Education at the Office for Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at University of California Davis Health Sacramento Campus. Mercedes is responsible for developing, implementing, managing, and monitoring diversity and inclusion training within UC Davis Health, identifying all educational resources within UC Davis Health/UC Davis pertaining to equity, diversity and inclusion education. She is the Program Manager of the new TPMG-UC Davis Health Physician Pipeline Initiative, an educational pipeline initiative that will help build the next generation of physicians to advance Latino health.

Mercedes has her Masters of Science Degree in Counseling Education focusing on workforce development and organizational management from Sacramento State University. She’s championed nationally recognized academic and research programs to increase underrepresented students, staff and faculty at all levels of California’s Higher Education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine. Mercedes has held career positions as program coordinator, counselor and faculty member advocating cultural competence and inclusion to create intuitional excellence by enhancing the diversity of its workforce. Her hobbies include road cycling and music. Most recently Mercedes has taken on teaching Reigniting the Spirit of Caring.

Stephanie has been facilitating Re-Igniting the Spirit of Caring since 2020 and recently joined the facilitator team for Leading an Empowered Organization. Stephanie strives to integrate humor and mindfulness with all of the groups she leads and adventures she takes in life.

Daneva’s heart was moved the first time she took Reigniting the Spirit of Caring in 2017. It was the first time she learned about the importance of self-care, and how this translated into the care of colleagues, patients, and families. After taking the class three times, the content of RSC influenced her to be involved as a facilitator for this course. Daneva is currently a Clinical Nurse 2 in Pre-op/PACU. She has almost ten years of experience as a registered nurse, nine of them being here at UC Davis Health System. Prior to being in the PACU, Daneva was a Clinical Nurse 3 on East 8 Medical Surgical Specialties Unit. Here, she developed the Support U program and became the Support U Champion. She was immersed in multiple councils, including professional governance, the electronic medical record and safe patient handling. Her self-care hobbies include meditation, journaling, crocheting, and weight lifting.

Kristine loves being a nurse and helping others speaks to her heart. She started working at UC Davis in 2009, as a new graduate nurse on Davis 14 ortho/trauma. She also worked as a critical care nurse on T7 Blue MSICU. She started working in GI Endoscopy in 2017 and has grown from a clinical nurse to a resource nurse and currently an Assistant Nurse Manager. Kristine completed her Master’s degree with UC Davis BIMSON in 2016. She also completed the Rising Nurse Leaders and CORO programs through UC Davis. She worked as a clinical nurse instructor for medical/surgical and ICU rotations. She has also been part of multiple hospital-wide committees and departmental committees. On her spare time, Kristine loves her quality time with her husband and her 4 kids. She is a sports mom, a PTA mom and loves to cook and bake. Feeding people is her love language. Kristine also has a knack for wedding photography and partners with her husband to document those precious moments. Kristine loves making connections with people, and she is excited to share the practice of relationship-based care by facilitating Reigniting the Spirit of Caring.

Melody is a facilitator for Reigniting the Spirit of Caring. She has been a facilitator since January 2020. She has worked for UCDMC for 13 years as a RN. She currently works on a Medical-Surgical Unit. Melody was inspired to be a facilitator because she believes that Relationship Based Care is important. She practices it and knows that it promotes caring behaviors and a healing culture.

Cheyanne is a Clinical Nurse II who works with the Patient Care Resources Department in the float pool. Cheyanne is a bedside nurse in the medical-surgical and telemetry specialty areas throughout the hospital.

Cheyanne has participated in various roles such as: Preceptor to nursing students and new hires, Charge Nurse, Chair of Unit-Based Practice Council, Committee member for Professional Governance Council, and committee member for GRASP.

Cheyanne has been working as a nurse for UC Davis Medical Center since 2011 and as a trained facilitator of Re-Igniting the Spirit of Caring since 2013. Cheyanne has a passion for patient advocacy and relationship-based care.