The Critical Care Unit team are servant leaders for the population they serve. They find ways to make our patients feel special and treat them like they are family. Moreover, they find ways to break the script and create moments that matter. A few examples:
Every year since 2018, Kim Green and Lyndsey Couch have created Christmas baskets with personal care items and small tokens for each patient in the unit on Christmas Day. They fill the baskets using their own money and go around to patient rooms on Christmas Day delivering them with a smile and words of encouragement. Each year they start planning a bigger, better basket for the coming year.
Being in the ICU for our patients, especially during the time of COVID, can be stressful and lonely. In order to provide support and distractions for our patients, Kathy Stewart provides adult coloring books and pencils for our patients to have some entertainment and mental stress reduction during their stay.
Natalie Savoie identified that our pediatric patient population in CCU did not have toys, coloring books, crayons, etc. She took her stepson shopping with her and he helped to pick out items that children would like when they are in the hospital. Her support of child life in the Critical Care shows that we care for ALL within the walls at Lincoln.
This Halloween, Lyndsey Couch, Madison Davis, Darlene Carver, and Kathy Stewart with mini pumpkins donated by Mary Splain decided our patients needed some holiday fun. They provided each patient with a mini pumpkin, a sharpie, and a get well card from the unit to encourage pumpkin decorating to ease the stress of the patients' illness.
Jenna Lutz and Brett Carver worked together with a COVID-19 patient who was working hard to improve. Jenna bought him a card and wrote encouraging sentiments as well as some chicken wings so he could enjoy the Panther's game. Brett took time on his shift to sit with the patient and watch the game with him since he could not have any visitors. The patient commented that these gestures made him want to recover for the team because they made him feel like part of their family.
A patient wrote a letter to the administration about the care he received from Dr. Knight and Dr. Freundt as well as Jeannette Rubio. He commented that while in CCU, Jeannette discovered that his favorite dish was lasagna, and she went out and bought it for him because she knew it would lift his spirits. He comments on how he spent his career in the United States Army and fully understands what it takes to be a hero. In his words, "In my view, your doctors and nurses are heroes in every respect because they are risking their health daily by working with patients like me who have a contagious illness. They do it willingly and patient welfare outweighs the risks they face. I admire each one of them, and I appreciate them more than words can express."