Arlene Figgins
May 2015
Arlene
Figgins
,
RN, BSN, CDE
Diabetes Management
Valley Health Warren Memorial Hospital
Front Royal
,
VA
United States

 

 

 

I have worked with Arlene for more than 10 years now and am constantly amazed at how she goes the extra mile for patients. Here are some examples:

Coming in on a Saturday to see a new diabetic in the hospital so they will receive education before they go home.

Coming to my office in the late evening (with my OK, of course!) to obtain a sample bottle of insulin for a patient who had run out and cannot afford to buy one. This patient would have ended up in the hospital in DKA without the insulin.

One patient has very poor vision and is unable to write down his sugar readings. She meets him at 6:30AM every Wednesday (which is convenient for him) at her office to write down the readings out of his meter, then forwards these to me so his insulin can be adjusted.

When equipment in our office that is used to download data from an insulin pump was not working, she took each pump across the street to her office at Diabetes Management and downloaded it there and brought the pump and the data back, so the patients would have the benefit of this information for their appointment.

2 years ago she suffered a serious health problem and was out of work for several months, in the hospital and then in Cork Street rehab, and throughout this difficult time, whenever I talked to her, her biggest concern was not her own health but how soon she could get back to the patients who needed her.