Diana Ramos has worked for Child Protective Services for 7 years. She is our administrative assistant, AND is also a caseworker assistant and the building receptionist. She is the only person who carries all those titles and rightly so. Each unit has an assigned AA or CWA. She is assigned to a unit herself, BUT any person in this building can tell you she does not hesitate to offer her assistance to ANYONE at ANYTIME. Diana has a motto she lives by: “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” She greets all of the clients who come into the building with respect and a smile. When she sees children are fussy with their parents as they sit in the lobby waiting to be seen, she steps in with a book or small toy or snack from the Rainbow Room to help the child and the parent. She seems to never be in a bad mood and ALWAYS asks how you are doing.
This work can be so stressful and trying. Knowing this, she also steps in as a “mother”, “sister” and “friend” to our caseworkers. Her selflessness is amazing. Most specifically she steps in and generously creates crafts for staff to help make our institutionalized office more friendly and warm. She has a knack for this. She makes wreaths among other things to bring cheer and color to our building and happiness to our staff. Our office has become quite the unique setting because of Diana Ramos. But it does not stop there. She assists staff when there are removals; she does paperwork, works on files, and researches for caseworkers, answers phone on top of all the things mentioned above. She is the eyes and ears for this building. She listens and cares. She is always professional. To come into the office every day and with everyone say “What can I do for you today?” without hesitation and with a smile on her face is a remarkable feat in itself.