This nurse exemplifies the kind of nurse that we all wish to have on our teams at Memorial Hermann Southeast. On a busy day in the ED with record volumes, Bonnie Goodwin was working in triage when a patient presented to the ED from a group home with her caregiver. The caregiver reported that the patient had a rash that had first been noted that morning and wanted to have it evaluated. Upon further assessment, Bonnie noted that the patient instead had second-degree burns to bilateral buttocks, posterior thighs, and heels with blistering and open wounds. After asking more questions, Bonnie quickly realized that there was more to this patient’s story and begin asking probing questions to the caregiver.

At the end of the triage, Bonnie realized that the patient had been burned badly from hot bath water. Bonnie expeditiously filed an APS report to ensure proper follow-up for the patient. The patient was ultimately transferred to TMC for burn care. APS became involved with this patient prior to discharge from TMC. APS performed a thorough evaluation of her living situation, and the caregiver that burned the patient causing the burns was ultimately fired from the group home. Further, all of the other caregivers employed at the group home received specialized training on how to prevent this from happening to another patient.

Sadly, this patient was found to have no next of kin, and as a precaution, a guardian was appointed, so that there would always be someone to follow her case, and to advocate for her. The patient was able to be discharged to the group home where she had resided for the past seven years. I feel confident that Bonnie will say she was simply doing her job, but because of her willingness to speak up for this patient, I now feel certain that this patient has someone advocating for her outside of our emergency department, and because of Bonnie, will receive better care, and have a better quality of life. I saw personally how this patient touched Bonnie when she initially presented to the ED and Bonnie’s passion for making sure this patient would be taken care of long after her stay with us was over. I am so proud of Bonnie!