Caregiver Celebrations Acknowledge Difference Makers

The family of a Cleveland Clinic patient nearing the end of life wanted to reminisce during their hospital visit by playing old VHS home videos. To honor the request, a clinical engineering technician went out of his way to locate the required equipment in a storage facility and install it in the patient’s room. To honor the technician’s commitment to the organization’s patients and overarching values, his manager awarded him with a Quarterly Celebration.

The award represents one of many Caregiver Celebrations annually bestowed on deserving Cleveland Clinic staff. The online awards program has resulted in more than 3 million caregiver recognitions since its inception in 2010.

“Celebrations awards are meaningful because they are given from peer to peer, leaders to their teams or patients to caregivers,” says Katy Koran, a program manager in Human Resources Operations, Caregiver Office, who oversees the program. “It’s important for caregivers to get noticed for what they are doing on a day-to-day basis – to feel that their teammates, leaders and patients recognize how they make a difference.”

One program, many awards

The Caregiver Celebrations program offers a variety of meaningful ways to recognize individuals and teams for the impact they make on the healthcare system. They fall into five main categories:

1. Everyday Celebrations – There are several awards to recognize caregivers at the time of the achievement. Appreciation Awards acknowledge an individual or team’s support of Cleveland Clinic values or care priorities in areas such as patient care, continuous improvement, teaching and well-being. Patient Recognition Awards recognize caregivers who have received messages of gratitude and appreciation from patients and visitors. Partnership Awards honor Cleveland Clinic vendors, partners and volunteers for contributions to the health system.
2. Quarterly Celebrations – Individuals and teams are nominated by managers and professional staff for outstanding performance within their institute, division or hospital.
3. Annual Celebrations – These nomination-based awards celebrate the “best of the best” individuals and teams who exemplify the health system’s values and positively impact its care priorities. They include the Value Award, Care Priority Award and CEO Award.
4. Milestone Celebrations – Caregivers achieving a milestone service anniversary (e.g., 5, 10, 15 or 20 years of service and beyond) are celebrated for their longevity with the organization and dedication to patients, fellow caregivers and the community.
5. Coin Celebrations – Custom coins acknowledge the effort of individual caregivers in the tradition of challenge coins that military personnel use to honor their colleagues. Recipients who receive a coin can pass it along to another deserving caregiver. Tomislav Milhaljevic, MD, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic, and Kelly Hancock, DNP, RN, NE-BC, FAAN, Executive Vice President, Chief Caregiver Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, award Legacy Coins to caregivers who exhibit truly exceptional behavior. Recipients keep these coins.

Most awards include a printed or electronic certificate. Annual Celebrations also include a monetary award.

Recognition program achievements

Cleveland Clinic aims to award 315,000 Caregiver Celebrations this year. In the first quarter of 2026, the enterprise had already achieved 28% of its target.

One of the program’s most recent successes is an uptick in the number of external Patient Recognition Awards – an increase of 365% since January. In 2025, Cleveland Clinic replaced printed comment cards with a QR code that patients and their families can scan to leave an electronic response. Koran says the paperless option resulted in twice the number of grateful messages from patients to caregivers compared to the previous year.

In addition, the organization recently added a link to its MyChart patient portal that enables patients to send celebrations to their care teams.

Employee celebration tips

Caregiver Celebrations can be meaningful to employees while benefiting the health system, too. Evidence shows that effective recognition programs build staff commitment, drive retention and reduce turnover. In a recent Gallup poll, 27% of respondents cited lack of recognition as a reason for leaving a job, ranking it among the top five issues.

“It’s important to pause and let others in the organization know how you perceive their efforts, how they have helped you and how they’ve contributed to the team,” Koran says.

She offers healthcare organizations the following advice for implementing a successful recognition program:

• Place all your awards under one umbrella. “Having everything under one program allows us to track who is sending and receiving awards and what institutes, divisions and hospitals are doing well,” Koran says. “We report out those award numbers every month, and we can get resources and tools to areas that are underperforming.”
• Create resources for leaders. Human Resources Operations developed a Recognition Toolkit for Managers that explains the five Caregiver Celebrations categories, answers frequently asked questions about the program, includes fliers with QR codes to promote caregiver and patient award portals, and offers advice on how to share recognition stories with teams.
• Make it easy for caregivers to send awards. The Caregiver Celebrations website links to Cleveland Clinic’s intranet and integrates into Microsoft Teams so caregivers can easily send Everyday Celebrations.
• Learn how your team wants to be recognized. “Understand your people,” Koran says. “Not everyone wants public recognition. Some people may prefer a simple note.” The Caregiver Celebrations program allows people to make awards public or private.
• Share recognition stories. Consider presenting awards at huddles, meetings and town halls. Share awards in public forums and feature articles about winners in newsletters or through other employee communication channels. “Storytelling reminds caregivers that they’re working for an organization that recognizes the work of their people, and it also reminds staff to recognize one another,” Koran says.