Hear from Our Colleagues

Kalee has always had an interest in science and the human body, which led her to become a nurse nine years ago.

Since then, she worked at other healthcare facilities before joining Signature Health in 2020 as a nursing supervisor in primary care.

"I can truly say this organization cares about their patients and employees 100%. Not only by maintaining dignity, respect and equality, but administration also ensures that there is work life balance that is optimal for us all," she said. "It's rewarding to be able to see patients grow and prosper over time."

More recently, Kalee took advantage of a Signature Health professional development program to obtain her Master's Degree in Nursing Leadership and Administration from Capella University. She also had the opportunity to further advance her career by taking on the new role of RN Site Manager in Ashtabula.

"This unique position allows me to become the conduit between all service lines to positively impact the working environment for staff through collaboration, respect, and open communication all while ensuring standards of patient care are maintained," she said. "I'm able to expand my knowledge base and continue to grow as an individual within the nursing field."

In Lakisha’s own words, a case manager “advocates for people in the community, linking clients with resources related to housing, food, insurance and social activities.”

Since joining Signature Health in 2019 as a case manager, Lakisha has grown into a Team Lead. This role means she still works with clients (including running an anger management group), but also supports other case managers on her team and helps with training newcomers. Her previous experience was in a group home, and she was seeking more variety and versatility, day to day.

Some highlights Lakisha notes are: being an Epic “super user” (since it is the gold standard electronic health record), having advancement opportunities, and competitive pay for case managers.

One client in particular stays with Lakisha: “His goal was to achieve buying a house. When I got him, he was 19. He bought that house at 20. And that has been my pride and joy.”

“Working at Signature Health has been tremendous. I love it here,” she says. “Everyone is very nice and helpful. I look forward to a long time here at Signature.”

What’s next for Lakisha? Finishing school to become a licensed counselor!

For Michael, deciding to become a mental health counselor is something he says his older brother inspired him to do. His brother went to school for social work after he decided he didn’t want to be a chemist. 

“At the same time, I was questioning what I wanted to do. So, taking a little bit of inspiration from what he was doing was helpful, but I think it ultimately culminated in I didn't want to ever just be sitting behind a desk crunching numbers. I wanted to be doing something where I was helping people from lots of different walks of life.” 

Now for six years, Michael, an LISW-S, has been working at Signature Health. 

“I think the most rewarding part of the job is seeing people from lots of different backgrounds, face a lot of different intersectional problems and seeing them be able to persevere through a lot of those. Signature Health does a really good job of just allowing us the ability to grow and to ask questions and learn things." 

He says in his tenure there have been numerous memorable patient encounters, but one stands out. 

“I remember I had one client who was a teenager when he came in and did not want to be here at all. His mom had kind of forced him into counseling. This is a very typical situation I have seen before,” he says. “The first couple of sessions, he didn't say a word. But I remembered a lot of my skills and my training on how to work with this. Over time, I really emphasized building our relationship and what he wanted to talk about. That avenue worked with him and he over time really came to open up in counseling. Then when he turned 18, he made the decision to continue counseling on his own."  

Emily has worked as a pharmacy technician for 10 years and said it’s a career she loves. 

“I graduated college with a biology degree. I didn't really know what I wanted to do, so I took a job to be in pharmacy temporarily and I really liked it. So, I stayed in pharmacy.” 

At the end of 2021, she started working at Signature Health. 

“A couple of my coworkers at my old job started working here and told me I'd really like it. So, I applied, and they were right.” 

She’s happy to be part of the pharmacy team in Maple Heights and said Signature Health offers a unique experience to patients. 

“I think it's special being able to work in a building that has primary care, mental health services and a pharmacy. I think that makes for a seamless experience for the patients being able to go see their doctor and come down to the pharmacy in the same building and pick up their medication, or if it's a virtual visit, being able to mail or deliver.” 

Emily says she enjoys the role she plays in the lives of others. 

“I just think it's a really rewarding job working with the public and you get to see a lot of people every day and help everyone.” 

Cassie always knew she wanted to help others.  

“I started off in college in a completely unrelated role and then I quickly realized that wasn't for me. I was really more interested in a client-facing role instead of just doing more behind the scenes things. I realized the helping professions were really what was meant for me.”  

That clarity led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in social work.   

Now for 10 years, she’s been helping people as a mental health counselor, and she's worked at Signature Health for the past 4 years.  

“I was working with mostly children when I first started, and then kind of the first opportunity for growth was focusing more on the perinatal population. So, I had a lot of young moms I was working with and so I was offered more opportunities to learn about adults and working with adults and working with substance use and severe mental health and once I kind of was working in that counselor role for a while, I ended up getting more into supervision and that was an amazing opportunity.”  

As the Manager of Residential Services at Roberto Flores Home, Cassie now manages a team of counselors, residential care specialists and others who support individuals with a dual mental health and substance use disorder diagnosis. 

“The wraparound services that our clients can receive here all in one place is huge. I really enjoy seeing the team collaboration and being able to talk about client wins always reminds us why we do this work, especially after a tough day.” 

Stephen was inspired to become an LPN from experiences he had caring for family members and friends with medical challenges.  

“I'm a people person. So, getting in to this work was a good fit for a good career path, where I’m able to work with people and help in a time of need.” 

He’s been at Signature Health since getting his LPN license, after friends employed here told him it was a great place to work.  

“It’s good people, from the top down, and a growing company” he says. “Everyone gets along really well, which is something that stands out to me.” 

With a constant focus on his personal growth, Stephen enjoys helping new staff members get acclimated.  

“The team at Signature Health is in it for the right reasons of reaching out to people who are in their time of need and giving them the best level of care. The culture is very patient oriented, for their best well-being.”