Ripandeep’s Story

Professionalism and Patience Lead to High Honor

Ripandeep Kaur immigrated with her husband and two sons from Punjab, India. She holds a bachelor’s degree in both arts and education from India and worked for seven years as an elementary school teacher at the British Olivia High School in Punjab.

Now living with her family in Baltimore, she got a job at Johns Hopkins Hospital. While working, she joined the BACH Environmental Care Supervisory (EVC-S) apprenticeship program. Ripandeep enjoys her work and says that it gives her a sense of purpose, explaining, “I feel like I play a vital role and I get to exercise my communication, organizational, and leadership skills. I think it is very important for me to listen to my team and work with them at times when they need help. This helps us focus on our organizational goal of excellent patient care.”

After just two years as a supervisor, Ripandeep was named Supervisor of the Year. She recently received the award for the second year in a row. Her unparalleled work ethic, strong quality of service, and professionalism were noted as reasons for the honor.

“The apprenticeship program allowed me to learn, train, and work at the same time, and I am grateful to everyone who helped me,” says Ripandeep, specifically mentioning BACH’s career coach, Namika Mahmoodi, as well as teachers and other facilitators. “As a foreigner, it was hard for the staff to accept me initially. Some employees saw me as an outsider,” Ripandeep says. She says that remaining respectful and demonstrating a commitment to service helped her turn that around and allowing her to develop the positive relationships that she enjoys today.

She offers this advice to new EVC-S apprentices: “Be patient. Do not let your emotions take the lead. Once you have that patience and self-control, you can be very successful as an apprentice.”

In a year demanding patience of each of us, we agree with Ripandeep’s profound insight, and we offer her our congratulations for her double honor.