November 2023
CVICU Team Members
Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit
Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center
Milwaukee
,
WI
United States
K is a heart transplant recipient whose transplanted heart has now started to go into rejection, so K is stuck in the CVICU awaiting a new transplant. The CVICU team has gone above and beyond both to ensure his care is optimal and to help maintain his spirits, taking care of him as a whole person more than just as a patient. Despite his long stay (119 days and counting) and continuous infusions, K has remained inflection-free with no skin breakdown.
Nurses, aides, and therapists alike go out of their way to spend time with him, helping him pass his days. Just the other day I saw an aide, Evie Luebbe, come to the unit a half hour before her shift just to sit and chat with him in his room. Another nurse, Bridget Nelson, knew he loved the burgers from his hometown deli, so she would bring him dinner from that diner whenever she goes to their shared hometown.
After a few weeks in the hospital, we noticed that K was beginning to get a little bored, so we brainstormed what else we can do to change up his routine as he continues to wait for a heart. One of our OTs, Jan, brought in Trouble and Jenga and various team members took time out of their busy days to play with him. Jan also collaborated to bring in a Wii to play as a therapy session.
With his birthday coming up, we knew we needed to do something special to try and make that day stand out. Jan prepared with his nurses all week and on the day of the party, the nurse got orders to go to the Healing Garden with him. This gave the rest of the staff, including Kristen Davenport, RN, and Allison Seitz and Marlen Lopez-Ramirez, NAs, time to decorate his room with streamers, set up the cards signed by the whole staff and remove the furniture so it didn’t look like a hospital room. Cheryl Amell and Megan Panther, CVICU Supervisors, brought the cupcakes and juice that he could pass out to visitors during his “party.” On his way back from the Healing Garden, we had a group of staff ready in his room to sing “Happy Birthday!” and celebrate with treats and play darts. A magnetic dart board had been set up with the furniture removed and he was able to spend an hour or so without feeling so much like a patient.
With the success of the party, Jan and the nursing team have continued to plan “Fun Fridays” for K and some of the other long-term patients in CVICU who are awaiting transplants. We had a Bags/Cornhole tournament one week and bowling the next. We created an obstacle course out of cones that had to be navigated and set up ping pong on a different Friday. One of the best activities so far was a game of “Water Pong” between staff and a few of our long-term patients K and G. Rebecca Wahlen and Bridget Nelson, RNs, helped with the set-up and monitoring of the patients. This past Friday, Val Kushnir, RN, brought in a golf game from home since K was lamenting that he was going to end up missing golf season this year.
Over Easter weekend, two of our NAs, Allison Seitz and Hailey Grisham-Kerch bought the supplies and set up an Easter Egg Hunt in the Healing Garden for K and another long-term patient G (who has since received his heart transplant!) and their families. Amanda Punzenberger and Mackenzie Tenor, RNs helped transport and safely care for the patients out of the unit, also helping them spend some quality time in the fresh air with their families.
And we certainly can’t forget the ways that our night shift has been in on the fun too. Several of the night shift staff learned that K is a huge prankster outside of the hospital, so they decided to turn the tables on him and play a few pranks. I have not been privy to all the details, but I have heard rumors of whoopee cushions and a fake ice cube with a bug in it that may or may not have been put in his water at one point. K has returned the favor with the assistance of his nurses, playing pranks right back (including, most recently, helping “reorganize” the therapy cabinet and placing a manikin head inside with a little note from Kevin for anyone who opens the cabinet!).
We also held a “Fiesta Friday” for K, G, and another long-term patient. The fiesta included chips, salsa, (virgin) margaritas and was capped off with a pinata activity, hats and funny glasses, and another game of cornhole! Staff stayed late and came in from home to make this extra special for our patients.
These are the instances that stand out, but the day-to-day care of this patient and so many others is full of other instances like this. Despite the critical nature of many of these patients, our nurses and entire team have collaborated with family, therapy and the providers to find out of the box ways to engage and care for these patients. They make sure to do so safely and professionally while continuing to care for the whole person, not just as a patient.
Nurses, aides, and therapists alike go out of their way to spend time with him, helping him pass his days. Just the other day I saw an aide, Evie Luebbe, come to the unit a half hour before her shift just to sit and chat with him in his room. Another nurse, Bridget Nelson, knew he loved the burgers from his hometown deli, so she would bring him dinner from that diner whenever she goes to their shared hometown.
After a few weeks in the hospital, we noticed that K was beginning to get a little bored, so we brainstormed what else we can do to change up his routine as he continues to wait for a heart. One of our OTs, Jan, brought in Trouble and Jenga and various team members took time out of their busy days to play with him. Jan also collaborated to bring in a Wii to play as a therapy session.
With his birthday coming up, we knew we needed to do something special to try and make that day stand out. Jan prepared with his nurses all week and on the day of the party, the nurse got orders to go to the Healing Garden with him. This gave the rest of the staff, including Kristen Davenport, RN, and Allison Seitz and Marlen Lopez-Ramirez, NAs, time to decorate his room with streamers, set up the cards signed by the whole staff and remove the furniture so it didn’t look like a hospital room. Cheryl Amell and Megan Panther, CVICU Supervisors, brought the cupcakes and juice that he could pass out to visitors during his “party.” On his way back from the Healing Garden, we had a group of staff ready in his room to sing “Happy Birthday!” and celebrate with treats and play darts. A magnetic dart board had been set up with the furniture removed and he was able to spend an hour or so without feeling so much like a patient.
With the success of the party, Jan and the nursing team have continued to plan “Fun Fridays” for K and some of the other long-term patients in CVICU who are awaiting transplants. We had a Bags/Cornhole tournament one week and bowling the next. We created an obstacle course out of cones that had to be navigated and set up ping pong on a different Friday. One of the best activities so far was a game of “Water Pong” between staff and a few of our long-term patients K and G. Rebecca Wahlen and Bridget Nelson, RNs, helped with the set-up and monitoring of the patients. This past Friday, Val Kushnir, RN, brought in a golf game from home since K was lamenting that he was going to end up missing golf season this year.
Over Easter weekend, two of our NAs, Allison Seitz and Hailey Grisham-Kerch bought the supplies and set up an Easter Egg Hunt in the Healing Garden for K and another long-term patient G (who has since received his heart transplant!) and their families. Amanda Punzenberger and Mackenzie Tenor, RNs helped transport and safely care for the patients out of the unit, also helping them spend some quality time in the fresh air with their families.
And we certainly can’t forget the ways that our night shift has been in on the fun too. Several of the night shift staff learned that K is a huge prankster outside of the hospital, so they decided to turn the tables on him and play a few pranks. I have not been privy to all the details, but I have heard rumors of whoopee cushions and a fake ice cube with a bug in it that may or may not have been put in his water at one point. K has returned the favor with the assistance of his nurses, playing pranks right back (including, most recently, helping “reorganize” the therapy cabinet and placing a manikin head inside with a little note from Kevin for anyone who opens the cabinet!).
We also held a “Fiesta Friday” for K, G, and another long-term patient. The fiesta included chips, salsa, (virgin) margaritas and was capped off with a pinata activity, hats and funny glasses, and another game of cornhole! Staff stayed late and came in from home to make this extra special for our patients.
These are the instances that stand out, but the day-to-day care of this patient and so many others is full of other instances like this. Despite the critical nature of many of these patients, our nurses and entire team have collaborated with family, therapy and the providers to find out of the box ways to engage and care for these patients. They make sure to do so safely and professionally while continuing to care for the whole person, not just as a patient.