meet the 2024 mosaic award winners

The Dayton Children's Mosaic Award, launched in 2023, honors employees who promote equity. Named for our team's diverse backgrounds and perspectives, the award celebrates those improving care for children, families, and colleagues. In 2024, Melissa Gallenstein and Elise Huntley received this recognition for their outstanding efforts. 

"The Mosaic Award is a powerful way to see equity in action, which is central to how we operate and care for our patients and each other." says Destry Fallen, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 

At Dayton Children’s, equity is one of our core values. Research shows that prioritizing equity leads to increased engagement, more compassionate care and improved quality outcomes. It’s about ensuring patients and employees all receive the support, resources, and care they need to thrive.  

The Mosaic Award is open to receiving nominations all year round and the winners are selected by a committee of DEI advocates and leaders in the hospital. The award honors individuals or departments that do one or more of the following: 

• Impact patient care 
• Influence a patient’s experience 
• Address inequitable issues at work 
• Support colleagues 
• Advocate for equitable change 
• Ensure someone feels seen, heard, or valued 

When winners are announced, they are celebrated in a ceremony with department leaders and coworkers, highlighting their equity in action. 

This year's awardees, Melissa and Elise, have greatly impacted patient care by providing personalized attention. Read their stories to learn more: 

Melissa’s impact: bridging language barriers at the food pantry 

Melissa Gallenstein is a Business Intelligence Analyst at Dayton Children’s. But once her daytime job duties are done, Melissa volunteers her time at Dayton Children’s Food Pantry located in the Child Health Pavilion.  

This pantry fulfills a serious need: in Montgomery County 14% of families are food insecure and 10% have limited access to healthy food. And about half of the families who visit the pantry are Spanish speaking. Melissa shared that she wanted to use her bilingual skills to help connect with these families and make the food pantry process easier on them.  

The person who nominated Melissa for the award said that Melissa’s volunteer work is helping to make our food pantry efforts more equitable and in turn helping our community to be healthier overall. 

“I’m thankful that my leadership here has been very supportive of me prioritizing time to participate in the pantry," shared Melissa. “They’ve given me the freedom to be flexible in how I manage my time so that I can make it to my volunteer shifts while trusting me to still take care of my core responsibilities in Information Systems. I feel like my leadership truly does value my desire to participate in these kinds of opportunities and sees it as something positive!” 

Elise’s compassionate care supports patients with sensory needs 

Elise Huntley, a Child Life Specialist, was chosen to receive the Mosaic Award in recognition of her exceptional and individualized care for all the patients she serves. Elise’s passion for creating equitable healthcare experiences, particularly for patients with sensory processing differences, set her apart and led to her nomination. Her nomination said that she works tirelessly to ensure that every patient feels seen, understood, and supported. 

One such example of Elise’s outstanding care is her work with a patient who struggled with the hospital environment and had missed critical medical care due to anxiety. This patient had missed ultrasounds, labs, and even physician visits because his anxiety was so overwhelming that his caregivers couldn’t get him inside.  Elise recognized the need for a thoughtful and safe plan to help him receive the care he needed. 

Through collaboration with multiple departments and the patient’s caregivers, Elise helped create an individualized plan that addressed the child’s sensory needs.   For the first time in a long time, the patient successfully completed all the exams and medical care that had been missed. 

Elise shares, "My patients inspire me. I love learning about how they see the world and trying to understand what they are communicating through their behaviors. Supporting neurodiverse patients is not something I do alone; it’s a team effort with all the other hospital staff." 

creating a space for equity in action at work   

The Mosaic Award is just one example of how Dayton Children’s prioritizes equity and supports the incredible work of our employees. It’s a core part of our culture. 

“We want people who work here to bring their full selves to work because it helps us address needs and deliver the best patient care,” says Destry. “We are made better because of their efforts.” 

To learn more about our diversity and health equity efforts at Dayton Children’s, click here.

Interested in joining our team? Explore career opportunities at Dayton Children’s here.