The other day over the weekend, I had a wonderful experience working with ICU RN, Cahterine Luckenbaugh. She had a patient who was in the process of discharging as speech therapy was seeing the patient to reassess his swallow function. The patient wanted to go home, yet needed an instrumental swallow evaluation before his diet could be upgraded.

The patient was visiting his family from a different country, and his family said that the patient did not have a local primary care physician. Catherine texted the social worker and the MD to try and schedule an outpatient swallow study. Catherine agreed to complete an order with the SLP and asked the physician to sign the order. Once the order was finished, Catherine texted the SLP to assist with scheduling the patient’s evaluation. This is one of MANY examples of Chaterine’s strong work ethic, compassionate caregiving, and empathetic personality.

Catherine electively assists even when she is busy and without being asked. If she sees a co-worker struggling or a patient with needs, she will volunteer to help other nurses and staff, even when her patients have no needs. Catherine will provide additional information that she feels will be helpful without being asked. Catherine continuously goes above and beyond what is asked of her, and she is always amazing!