Beth Creamer
January 2023
Beth
Creamer
,
BSN, PMH-BC
Behavioral Health
Sparrow Hospital
Lansing
,
MI
United States
She has empowered caregivers to make decisions at the bedside where the work is occurring. She becomes involved when situations become more complicated. During these situations is when Beth and her leadership shine.
I am nominating Beth Creamer for The DAISY Award for her continued compassion and passion for people struggling with mental illness. She has been a mental health nurse since she graduated from nursing school. She worked for many years in our local Community Mental Health and continues to have a positive impact on our patients' lives at Sparrow for the last 3 years. Beth came to Sparrow as the Assistant Department Manager and later became the Department Manager. She is very involved with the activities on APU and GPU and she knows what is happening with the patients and caregivers. She has empowered caregivers to make decisions at the bedside where the work is occurring. She becomes involved when situations become more complicated. During these situations is when Beth and her leadership shine.
A couple of recent examples include a patient with complicated physical disabilities. Before accepting this patient into Behavioral Health, Beth met with the patient and assessed her needs. We were able to make some adjustments to our processes and bring the patient to APU. This patient had been in the health system for an extended period. She had many events of aggressive and violent behaviors and was very mentally ill. She was brought over to the Intensive Care Area and Beth facilitated the coordination of her care. Beth coordinated regular meetings with the patient's guardian, social worker, provider, and Community Mental Health. She continually monitored her progress, treatment plan, medication management and when there were setbacks, Beth was able to obtain the necessary resources. The patient improved and her aggressive and violent behaviors ceased. She eventually went to a long-term care facility.
During another patient situation, Beth supported and stayed with the caregivers as they dealt with a very challenging patient. She became involved with patient care by applying restraints, giving IM medications, contacting providers, and coordinating plans with security. She obtained additional resources and was able to keep the caregivers as safe as possible.
Other examples of Beth's leadership are the improvements that have been made in the units. Beth has been diligent to make sure the facility updates have been completed with all of the renovations. Additional cameras, badge accesses, doors locked, etc. have been added to keep everyone safe. Beth takes ownership of the department and what takes place there. She has advocated for the caregivers to have the tools that they need such as new Vital Sign machines and updates/improvements in EPIC. Beth helped to implement our Referral RN process to pull patients out of the ED into APU and GPU. She redesigned our treatment planning process to ensure patients are being involved in the development of their plan of care and is working with other leaders In Behavioral Health to increase our activity therapy programming for patients. When it comes to our patients, she will do whatever she can to meet their needs. Beth ensures we have clothing on the units for patients that don't have any. She has worked with laundry to obtain large sizes of scrubs for patients' comfort.
Beth is also a mentor to others. She has supported and encouraged a peer, K, in her role as an ADM. K has grown tremendously in over 1 ½ years of leadership. As a result, K is feeling more confident in her leadership and has been able to lead special projects such as reducing contraband. Beth also provides guidance and coaching to the caregivers and helps them think outside of the box to meet the needs of our patients. In addition, she has mentored me. I have learned so much about behavioral health and how to interact with patients. It has been a joy to watch Beth grow as a leader. She displays servant leadership, and compassionate leadership and genuinely cares about those she interacts with daily. Our patients, caregivers, and community is a better place because of Beth.
A couple of recent examples include a patient with complicated physical disabilities. Before accepting this patient into Behavioral Health, Beth met with the patient and assessed her needs. We were able to make some adjustments to our processes and bring the patient to APU. This patient had been in the health system for an extended period. She had many events of aggressive and violent behaviors and was very mentally ill. She was brought over to the Intensive Care Area and Beth facilitated the coordination of her care. Beth coordinated regular meetings with the patient's guardian, social worker, provider, and Community Mental Health. She continually monitored her progress, treatment plan, medication management and when there were setbacks, Beth was able to obtain the necessary resources. The patient improved and her aggressive and violent behaviors ceased. She eventually went to a long-term care facility.
During another patient situation, Beth supported and stayed with the caregivers as they dealt with a very challenging patient. She became involved with patient care by applying restraints, giving IM medications, contacting providers, and coordinating plans with security. She obtained additional resources and was able to keep the caregivers as safe as possible.
Other examples of Beth's leadership are the improvements that have been made in the units. Beth has been diligent to make sure the facility updates have been completed with all of the renovations. Additional cameras, badge accesses, doors locked, etc. have been added to keep everyone safe. Beth takes ownership of the department and what takes place there. She has advocated for the caregivers to have the tools that they need such as new Vital Sign machines and updates/improvements in EPIC. Beth helped to implement our Referral RN process to pull patients out of the ED into APU and GPU. She redesigned our treatment planning process to ensure patients are being involved in the development of their plan of care and is working with other leaders In Behavioral Health to increase our activity therapy programming for patients. When it comes to our patients, she will do whatever she can to meet their needs. Beth ensures we have clothing on the units for patients that don't have any. She has worked with laundry to obtain large sizes of scrubs for patients' comfort.
Beth is also a mentor to others. She has supported and encouraged a peer, K, in her role as an ADM. K has grown tremendously in over 1 ½ years of leadership. As a result, K is feeling more confident in her leadership and has been able to lead special projects such as reducing contraband. Beth also provides guidance and coaching to the caregivers and helps them think outside of the box to meet the needs of our patients. In addition, she has mentored me. I have learned so much about behavioral health and how to interact with patients. It has been a joy to watch Beth grow as a leader. She displays servant leadership, and compassionate leadership and genuinely cares about those she interacts with daily. Our patients, caregivers, and community is a better place because of Beth.