Chad Himmelberg
June 2021
Chad
Himmelberg
,
RN, MSN, CCRN
Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Nebraska Medicine
Omaha
,
NE
United States

 

 

 

Chad was there, at the bedside, ensuring a man with no other loved ones surrounding him had someone at his side.
Chad shows an unwavering commitment to extraordinary care by ensuring compassionate treatment of patients and dedication to the SICU staff on a daily basis. One most recent example of Chad going above and beyond with an SICU patient. This person had been admitted to SICU, taken emergently to the operating room, and found to have a poor prognosis. This person unfortunately had no family or support people to assist in making medical decisions for him. This, coupled with a poor prognosis lead to the decision being made to withdrawal further medical care. The day the patient was compassionately extubated, the primary nurse stayed with the patient as much as she was able to while delivering care to her other patients. Chad recognized the nurse was being pulled in other directions that wouldn’t allow her to stay with the patient so he got a book and began reading to the man while he was dying. Chad was there, at the bedside, ensuring a man with no other loved ones surrounding him had someone at his side. This patient had dignity in his final moments because of this generous and kind act. This level of compassion with patients is not an uncommon occurrence with Chad, it is who he is as a person and manager. His actions that day also afforded the nurse, who had other patients, the ability to provide uncompromised care without carrying the grief and time constraint knowing her dying patient was no longer alone. Chad is very much the hands-on leader we need and provides excellent teamwork. He is regularly asking staff how he can help in whatever way possible. Oftentimes this help means ensuring staff has a lunch break, transporting patients to CT or MRI so the nurses are able to complete charting, staying way past his ‘scheduled’ hours to make sure that all needs are met for the patients and his staff, or in this example; staying with a dying man. One of his greatest qualities is accountability. Chad is at the hospital early each day to make sure he is available to both shifts employees, assesses the outgoing shift needs, and helps with any loose ends that may impede the staff from getting off work in a reasonable time. He has an unofficial open-door policy so we know we can contact him with our needs, whenever! Chad cares for his staff and his patients. We often hear staff say, “he is the best manager I have ever had.” Without even knowing it or needing to be recognized for it, Chad has shown SICU what it is to be a great leader simply by just sitting with a patient and reading a book. It was no doubt one of the most impactful books I have ever witnessed being read. Thank you for all you do for all of us Chad!