Nursing student Charles Berthiaume is unassuming, polite and conscientious, exactly the type of co-worker or classmate that people love to be around. For all of those qualities, and for his tremendous work ethic, Berthiaume was recently named “Employee of the Month” at Rhode Island Hospital where he works in the emergency department as a CNA II.

Berthiaume was a truck driver for 25 years before deciding to pursue a career in health care. He became certified as a Certified Nursing Assistant at CCRI, then went to work at Rhode Island Hospital in 2000. Enamored with his new career path, Berthiaume decided to return to school, and is now a Nursing V student, taking classes at CCRI’s Newport County Campus. He expects to graduate in December 2006.

“I like the fact that I’m helping people,” says Berthiaume. “In this job you go home feeling like you’ve done something good.”

Classmate and fellow Rhode Island Hospital CNA Pollie Chase Petrosso called the award to the attention of Currents’ staff. “Charles is a hardworking, devoted student and professional,” she says. More important still, she says, is Berthiaume’s character as a person. “He is sincere, he’s always kind, and he’s always there to help anyone who needs it both at work and in school. Everybody I know just loves him to death.”