November 2021
Angela
Nardone
,
BSN, RN
IMU
HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe
Conroe
,
TX
United States
Angela and Tiffanie worked diligently searching and went through bag after bag after bag of dirty linen until the phone was found.
This story begins with a post-op Cardiac Bypass Graft (CBG) patient that had been at HCA Conroe for over a month going back and forth between ICU and IMU. The staff that day had given her a bath which always made her feel better. After her bath she looked for her phone to call her family. The nurses searched everywhere with no success. The patient was devastated as it was her favorite possession. After much thought the nurses came up with the idea that maybe it was in the linen, but the linen had already been picked up from the unit that day. They called Environmental Services (EVS) and were informed that the linen service pickup time for the hospital is at 2300. It was a busy day so the nurses could not get away until after report that night, which is after 7 PM. Angela and Tiffanie stayed late after their shift and went to the loading dock to look for the phone that could be accidentally wrapped up in the linen. They had a mission and they were determined to find that phone in one of those hundreds of bags of soiled linen. They worked diligently searching and went through bag after bag after bag of dirty linen until the phone was found. They rushed back to the patient and were rewarded with a huge smile. That night the patient made phone calls to her family and those were the last calls she made as she passed away the next day. These nurses made a huge difference to this patient and her last moments of life. I am PROUD to say that I work with them.