Christopher Laber, RN

I am a Private Duty RN, and I brought my HHC patient to the ER due to the absence of bowel sounds. I have been caring for this child for 16 years. Her mother and I have never been treated with that level of respect, collaboration, communication, care, and dignity. Christopher Laber, the ER nurse, asked questions like, “Is this normal for her?”, “What’s her baseline?” and “Where would you put her IV?” The on-call doctor even accepted a phone call from the Chief of Medicine at Gillette Children’s. We’ve had previous ER doctors refuse to speak to Gillette. We experienced true collaboration for the first time in years. Chris acknowledged us. He saw us, he validated us. He treated me as a colleague instead of an annoying presence. He treated the patient as the complex case she is. Chris utilized my familiarity with the patient as a resource and worked with us. He checked his ego at the door. The patient was ground transported to Gillette Children’s with bowel ileus. I just can’t get over how wonderfully this special-needs family was treated.