Ban is an exemplary nurse. She is always arriving on time with a smile on her face. She will happily float between Pre-Op and PACU without complaint. She is always willing to come in early, stay late, even pickup extra call. Ban is always taking extra time to engage patients and families and attain their back story. This allows her to build an incredible rapport with her patients. Recently, Ban went well beyond the expectations of a nurse.
Minutes after meeting her 17 year old patient in Pre-op, Ban initiated a trusting relationship with this young girl. Ban discovered that despite it only being 9:30 AM, the patient had already encountered many challenges on her journey to the hospital. The patient disclosed that her family, which included Mom and four young siblings ranging from 1 ½ years to 7 years old, had taken the 3 buses and were dropped off at Orchard Lake and Maple and proceeded to walk to the hospital together. The patient stated that after discharge, they planned to walk the almost 3 miles back to Orchard Lake to catch the bus back home.
After getting the patient situated, Ban really sprang into action. She began by organizing meal vouchers for the family to get breakfast while the patient was in OR. She also floated to recovery so that she could continue her continuity of care for this patient. She included social work into the team plan in an attempt to coordinate transportation home. After learning that the cab company would not transport the family without car seats, she told the charge nurse that she had several car seats at home that she was no longer using and she lived about five minutes from the hospital. Ban ran home and promptly returned with 3 car seats for the family.
While this may seem like an extraordinary act, these are the types of things that Ban is continuously doing for her patients. She is a tremendous asset to Henry Ford, pre-op/PACU and particularly her patients.