Caitlyn Dixon is our December wellness spotlight award winner! Caitlyn is a Lead Medical Assistant II at Eena Duggal Family Medicine & Pediatrics in Pleasanton. Caitlyn was nominated by Molly Crawley, a former colleague who retired earlier this year. 

Caitlyn was nominated for her embracing short meditations at work, for changing the way she and her family eat after a workplace nutrition talk and for doing “everything” as the only full-time MA at the clinic. Molly highlighted how patients rave about her and she does many tasks including rooming patients, doing EKGs, drawing blood, giving immunizations, ordering supplies and more!  She’s a mother of three and seems to balance it all.

Read on to learn how Caitlyn helped transform the eating habits of her family, practices mindfulness at work and supports a culture of wellness at work! 

Q. Your nomination from Molly highlighted both your personal wellness and professional wellness. She shared that you support morning meditation sessions at work and stopping to take three deep breaths. How does your clinic currently utilize mindfulness techniques?

A. Molly, the nominator of this award, has since retired. While employed she took on the role as our Wellness Ambassador. If it hadn’t been for Molly introducing our office into different ways to be mentally and physically healthy I never would have even thought about it. Our office is small and always busy so we try to fit in a meditation for at least 1-3 minutes  — sometimes even 5 minutes. But we have found that what works best for our office is to ask another employee to take 3 deep breaths together periodically throughout the day. It doesn’t take much time and is very effective at improving our mindfulness.  

Q. Your nomination also highlighted how a workplace healthy eating talk led to you making some changes in the way your family eats. What changes did you make to improve well-being in your family? What were the results of these changes?

A. We had a nutritionist come out and talk to our office. What stood out to me since I have 3 children is that your body can only absorb so much sugar in  a day and the rest is not useful. As a parent, we think that fruit is a great snack for our children, but it does contain high sugar levels. I have incorporated more vegetables into our menu. Also we have changed from cow’s milk to non-dairy products made of almond or soy. We have cut way down on grains and we researched ways to use alternatives. I learned of bulletproof coffee and whipped butter as the cream in the coffee. My 10 year old son who was considered at the time overweight according to the growth chart lost 15 pounds from these changes. Our family feels healthier and happier.

Q. Your nomination shared that as the only full-time MA at your clinic, you do everything from rooming, doing EKGs, drawing blood, giving immunizations, ordering supplies and more! Wow! What’s your favorite part about your work?

A. I take on many responsibilities of the office, but my favorite part is the interaction with the patients.

Q. What keeps you motivated to be well both at work and at home?

A.  If I practice wellness then others around me are more inclined to do so. Your physical and mental self affects others, so you want to ensure the effect is a positive one.

Q. What brings you joy?

A. My family and children bring me joy. California (I am from Iowa and don’t miss that cold and snowy weather at all). My job, when you love what you do it makes it so much easier to come to work every day. 

Thank you, Caitlyn, for your dedication to modeling wellness for yourself, your family and your colleagues!