Lydia Rivera

On a busy morning, Lydia Rivera, a nurse educator for SCI, was busy trying to get to a committee meeting but while she was in the hallway on her way there she noticed an older veteran in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank on the back of his chair struggling to get to the prosthetics department to fill his empty tank. While many people were passing by this gentleman, Lydia noticed his energy getting weaker and weaker. She stopped and noticed he had run out of the oxygen and asked where he was going. He told her he was going to prosthetics to refill his oxygen. Lydia knew that patient safety and customer service was her first priority. She turned herself around and told the patient she would push him in his wheelchair to prosthetics to make sure he made it there to have his oxygen tank filled. She did just that but also stayed with him until it was his turn in line and he had the oxygen tank put on his wheelchair, was connected and he was able to breathe more effectively. The veteran was very grateful for her help and thanked her. She then hurriedly went back to the Spinal Cord Injury area where she then joined her team members in their meeting.