Marie Madrid honored with 5281 Award May 3

Congratulations to DFD Executive Assistant Marie Madrid! She was honored May 3 at the City’s annual 5281 Awards to recognize individual employees and teams that exemplify values of Service, Teamwork, Accountability, Respect and Safety and who support sustainability practices.

Congratulations to this Year’s 5281 Award Winners:
Service to Customer Award – Liz Lightfoot, Department of Safety
Teamwork Award – Child Support Services – Accounting, Department of Human Services
Accountability Award – Jessica Naberhaus, Department of Human Services
Respect for Self and Others Award – Marie Madrid, Denver Fire Department
Sustainability Award – Sarah Anderson, Public Works
www.denvergov.org/5281

Nomination by Sarah Moss, Kim Coleman, and Tech. Melissa Taylor:

Marie Madrid, Executive Assistant to the Chief of the Denver Fire Department, helps the Fire Department communicate with our customers every day via phone and email and throughout the year on a variety of special projects. Her City service includes Public Works, the Police Department, the Mayor’s Office, and the Fire Department. Her colleagues value her experience and expertise and frequently ask for her perspective. Marie’s emotional intelligence, efforts, and achievements positively impact the Fire Department and our customers. A few recent examples:

1) Marie is a leader and role model in making DFD members feel valued and appreciated. She coordinates DFD’s invitations and RSVPs to the Mayor’s monthly pin ceremonies for City employees who have achieved at least 20 years of service. Since DFD hires firefighters in academy classes as large groups, frequently DFD has the largest delegation of honorees at the Mayor’s pin ceremonies. Marie contacts each honoree individually to let them know what to expect. She uses her interpersonal awareness to address questions and concerns on everything from appropriate attire to parking. The Denver Fire Department also honors members who achieve promotions. Marie was instrumental in developing an innovative and efficient system of checklists and templates that allow for clear assignment of tasks to make DFD’s promotion ceremonies run smoothly. Marie considered the distinct perspectives, interests, feelings, and needs of every promotion ceremony participant, from the members who were promoted, to the Executive Director of Safety, to the families and young children who attend the events. When assembling a box of event supplies with pens and sign-in sheets, she also included fire safety coloring books and crayons to entertain kids who might otherwise be bored and cause distractions.

2) Every day, Marie helps bridge gaps among uniform and civilian employees and residents. In her position, Marie’s dealings with the public are respectful and tireless, even when confronted with the most difficult of personalities. She is a lighthouse of calm in a sometimes stormy sea. She can translate “firefighter speak” into everyday language to connect with broader audiences. For example, a recent National Fire Prevention Week theme was about how working smoke alarms save lives. Marie’s creativity produced an education campaign about smoke and carbon monoxide alarms with messaging anyone could relate to: “You wouldn’t drink expired milk. Don’t use an expired smoke detector. Check the date on the back.” We worked with a bilingual colleague and graphic designers to produce the materials in English and Spanish.

3) Firefighters are frequently invited to visit schools and libraries to talk about fire safety. As a mom and grandma, Marie knows that kids learn in a variety of ways. She researched children’s books about firefighting and fire safety and coordinated the purchasing the books. Thanks to the library Marie assembled, when our firefighters read to kids at schools or libraries, the firefighters can bring books we know send appropriate messages. It saves the firefighters and teachers or librarians time searching for books.

4) In addition to her drive to make outreach and processes better, Marie also makes our days better in the office. Simply by walking past a person’s desk, Marie knows if a colleague is having a bad day or feeling under the weather. She asks questions and cares about the answers, and frequently offers a smile and a hug. No matter how busy she is, Marie always takes time to listen to her coworkers’ concerns, whether work-related or not, with patience and empathy. Her background in social work is evident as she strives to find solutions that enable our work family to coexist in a positive and productive way. Nobody at DFD Headquarters will ever go hungry or without an afternoon treat as long as our den mother Marie is in the building. She is a friend and confidante to all. Marie is a tremendous asset to the Chief’s office. She is asked to wear a number of hats and coordinate work throughout all of the ranks at the Denver Fire Department. She demonstrates respect through patience. She uses her voice to encourage change where it is warranted and strives to do the right thing. She greatly values the work of her colleagues and demonstrates it with simple notes and kind gestures that make our work life easier. For these reasons, and many more, Marie exemplifies respect for herself, her team, and her customers and deserves the honor of a 5281 award for consistently going a step above.