Courtney Lotz
May 2021
Courtney
Lotz
,
BSN, RNC-NIC
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Loma Linda University Children's Hospital
Loma Linda
,
CA
United States
Without Courtney's efforts, compassion, and determination, this mom never would have had this moment with her baby boy.
Today, Courtney did something very special. Courtney works in the NICU. She often "Primaries" babies, which means choosing to be assigned to the same patient every time she works. She does this because it improves continuity of care, and lets her advocate for her patients. Today though, she went way above and beyond, not just for her tiny premature patient, but for that baby's mom. You see, this baby's mother has terminal cancer. She is in our hospital, actively dying. She has never held or touched her baby. Courtney knows that this mom is so very sick, and is declining very rapidly. She has spent several days trying to convince the mother's nurses to bring her for a visit, but they felt that the mom was too sick.
Courtney felt so strongly that this baby needed to see his mom, and that the mom needed to see and touch her son, that she went to work coordinating with the NICU staff to take this micro-preemie to see his mom. This baby is in an isolette, on a ventilator, and is on four continuous infusion medication pumps. Courtney got permission from the NICU physician team, two attending physicians, and the Medical Director. She got permission from the Charge Nurse, the Managers, and the Director of the unit. Then she got permission for an RT and a Team Leader to accompany her and the baby safely from the mother’s floor. She put a lot of work into getting this mother and baby together, likely for what will be their last time. When Courtney heard "no", she found another way to make it happen, and I was blessed to see this very sick, very confused mom have a moment of clarity, and smile through her pain at her tiny baby boy. Without Courtney's efforts, compassion, and determination, this mom never would have had this moment with her baby boy.
Courtney felt so strongly that this baby needed to see his mom, and that the mom needed to see and touch her son, that she went to work coordinating with the NICU staff to take this micro-preemie to see his mom. This baby is in an isolette, on a ventilator, and is on four continuous infusion medication pumps. Courtney got permission from the NICU physician team, two attending physicians, and the Medical Director. She got permission from the Charge Nurse, the Managers, and the Director of the unit. Then she got permission for an RT and a Team Leader to accompany her and the baby safely from the mother’s floor. She put a lot of work into getting this mother and baby together, likely for what will be their last time. When Courtney heard "no", she found another way to make it happen, and I was blessed to see this very sick, very confused mom have a moment of clarity, and smile through her pain at her tiny baby boy. Without Courtney's efforts, compassion, and determination, this mom never would have had this moment with her baby boy.