Alicia Reams is an outstanding labor and delivery nurse who went above and beyond for a patient who came into MercyOne Waterloo Birth Center for an induction. The patient is non-English speaking and deaf, as is the father of her child. This was an assignment that would make for a long day and take a lot of extra creativity to communicate with the patient. Nobody jumped to take this assignment because it was going to be hard. But Alicia volunteered to take the patient. Another labor nurse found an American Sign Language interpreter who had to be called in from Cedar Rapids, adding another layer to the communication equation.
The young woman was a midwife patient, and she labored all day with Alicia as her 1:1 labor nurse. She made slow progress, and the midwife was worried she would need to be delivered by cesarean section. After pushing for some time without progress, she called for an OB consultation. The patient was pushing most ineffectively. The room was very hot as the patient had complained of being cold and the thermostat was set quite high, so everyone was sweating. Alicia stayed with the patient and encouraged her to keep going. Her shift was ending, and she needed to give sign out report. But she didn't leave the unit. She came back after report to see it through with this young deaf lady having a difficult delivery.
Alicia had so much empathy for this patient and sensed how hard it was for her to understand what was going on, ask questions, or let her care team know what she needed. Alicia coached the patient to push, used tug-of-war with a towel, and got the patient pushing great! Alicia had her pushing like a champ. The young lady, who was now pushing effectively, found her power to birth thanks to Alicia. The baby was having some deep heart rate decelerations but was low in the pelvis. She pushed a few more times, the bed was broken down, and with a little help from the provider, the baby was born.
Our patient would not have achieved a vaginal delivery if not for Alicia's devotion, caring, and stamina. The providers didn't think it was going to happen, but Alicia believed in the patient. After the birth, the patient and her partner let us know that they were profoundly grateful both for the care they received and for the interpretive services. They expressed that the ASL interpreter and all the time Alicia took to explain what was happening made them feel better informed about their care and what was happening than at any other time in the pregnancy. For the outstanding care that Alicia gave to this family, I believe she is a true DAISY Nurse.