Mason Health Pharmacy Technician Nichole Griese would not trade her job for anything. Her cheery disposition and encouragement of coworkers is why she has been selected as the April 2023 Employee of the Month. According to her nominator, Griese exemplifies Mason Health’s Core Values of Service and Relationships, by the way she addresses everyone by name and is fast to help anyone in need, positively representing her department, Mason Health and the community at large.

Before coming to Mason Health, however, Griese was almost ready to leave the field that she had worked hard to get into. Working with patients and employees in a hospital setting, filling prescriptions, has been incredibly rewarding.

“I was ready to change professions until I got this job,” Griese recalled. “Then I realized the grass is definitely greener when it comes to working at a hospital pharmacy.”

Griese grew up in Bremerton and graduated from Olympic High School in 2006. She went to Central Washington University to study journalism and communications, though after two years, she came back to Western Washington because she felt homesick. Her father was a pharmacy technician, so she decided to complete the pharmacy program at Everest College in Bremerton. When she completed the program, she worked for six years as a pharmacy technician at a retail grocery store in Mason County.

“It’s a very stressful work environment,” Griese said of the retail pharmacy world. “Be nice to your retail pharmacy technicians because they are struggling. When you work in a hospital, you’re seen as more of a professional, rather than a glorified cashier. Everyone was stressed and irritated.”

Griese had a friend who at the time worked in the EVS Department at Mason Health, who told her what a wonderful working environment it was.

“My friend told me how amazing it was to work here, and I thought if someone in her position, who is doing the hard work of cleaning and housekeeping, loves her job, then this place must be the bee’s knees,” Griese said. “I started to become very persistent. I came in many times to introduce myself.”

Griese’s husband, Thomas Griese, did an internship at Mason General Hospital’s Laboratory before Griese started working here on June 1, 2015. She then lobbied for her husband to take a position here. They worked together for years before Thomas Griese took a new job at Keyport Naval Base.

The couple live down the street from the hospital in Shelton, and have three children, the last of whom was born at Mason General Hospital’s Birth Center. That birth was a much more individualized and private care experience than her previous births in Silverdale, adding to Griese’s feelings that the culture at Mason Health is incredibly positive.

“I love working here because everybody is just ridiculously friendly,” she said. “I feel like every member of the hospital is my family. I love that I can help treat patients without touching them.”

Griese and her family also own two dogs, three cats and a snake.

Mason Health, Public Hospital District No. 1 of Mason County, is celebrating 55 years of serving patients and the community this year. Mason Health is ISO 9001 Quality Management System certified by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and is a licensed and accredited acute care hospital with a level four emergency trauma designation. Mason General Hospital and Mason Clinic are ENERGY STAR® certified and Mason Health is the recipient of Practice Greenhealth Partner for Change Environmental Excellence Awards. There are more than 100 physicians on staff in 19 specialties. For more information or to find a health care provider, visit www.masongeneral.com. To learn more about DNV, visit www.dnv.com/healthcare.