The 560-bed University of Miami Hospital (UMH) is the South Florida region’s first university-owned, multispecialty acute care hospital. 1199SEIU represents 1,800 workers at the institution, which has been organized since 2003, when it was Cedars Medical Center. 1199ers at UMH work in a broad range of capacities—as nurses, clerical workers and maintenance technicians, just to name a few. They serve a diverse and growing area population. 1199SEIU members come to work each day with a common goal: to be the best caregivers for all South Florida residents.



"Food can always make you feel better. I cook at home all the time. My grandparents were cooks and bakers. This comes naturally to me."



1. Floor tech Meikloss Saunders is a delegate and negotiating committee member at UMH. “My job is mostly scrubbing, stripping and repairing floors, but I do every little thing,” he says. “Whatever is needed throughout the whole hospital, they can call on me. If they need a bed or something moved, they can call me.”

2. Post Anesthesia Intensive Care Unit RN Elizabeth Jazon has been at UMH for six years. “I thank God he gave me the privilege to come to this country from Haiti. When I was a child there I wanted to be a doctor. I cleaned the booboos and took care of people in my family,” she says. “When I came here I took full advantage of all the educational opportunities that were offered to me and I became a nurse.”

3. TerDavien Ford has been a cook at UMH for five years.

4. Ann Stewart is a registered nurse in UMH’s gastroenterology dept. “We operate in all GI areas,” she says. “We do procedures and recovery. We try to rotate so we don’t always have on person working late. We see all GI functions here and treat GI bleeds, gallstones and do endoscopies. We see a lot of food bolusesthat’s choking on something. And usually more around Thanksgiving.”

5. Food service worker Tenoqua Freeman prepares patient lunches. “I prep food for the babies in the day care center and for patients at the eye care clinic and the Sylvester Cancer Clinic. What we do is important because we feed people,” she says. “Food can always make you feel better. I cook at home all the time. My grandparents were chefs and bakers. This comes naturally to me.”

6. Yohn Gomez has been a GI tech at UMH for three years. “It depends on how busy we are, but I can assist with 10 or 12 procedures a day,” he says. “I started a transporter in this department and then I got the opportunity to train for this job. I’m also a medical assistant. I’m always in the learning process.”

7. “We work in different parts of the hospital— wherever we’re needed when a patient is discharged. We go in and clean the rooms. There are about 12 housekeepers and we get the rooms done very efficiently,” says Germania Lopez, (third from left) an environmental services technician at UMH for four years.

Environmental services technician Aleida Morejon (at far right) has worked at UMH for five years.

Environmental service technicians Yesenia Osejo, (far left) and Maritza Cruz- Diaz (second from left).

8. Lena Coleman, a dietary worker, has been at UMH for 32 years. She’s shown putting away leftovers. “I make sure that everybody has everything they need and that everything is ready for each shift,” she says. “Our staff comes in three shifts to cover all the meals. I come in the middle of lunch and take care of dinner.”

9. Food service worker Lorna Forbes preparing fruit cups in the hospital kitchen’s cold production area. She works at a different station every week.

View the Jan/Feb Issue of OLAT