Deborah Slover
May 2023
Deborah
Slover
,
RN
Emergency Department
OU Health, Edmond Medical Center
Edmond
,
OK
United States

 

 

 

Sometimes patients get lost in the shuffle of discharge and we forget that they are humans who need a touch of compassion and humanity as we all do. That day I saw the way Deb tried to help this patient.
In November of 2022, I had a patient who had come in a few times for different reasons, and each time we sent her home. She always seemed reluctant to be discharged. The day I had her as a patient I found out that she was living in a home that had no central heat or air and that she was using space heater to warm her home, not only that her son and grandchildren were living with her as well. It was at this time the weather was in the negative temperatures at night and low teens during the day. I let Deb know that this was a concern on discharge as she was going back to a home that only had one space heater to share at the time. Deb went and spoke with the patient and in turn, notified our senior social worker who came down and spoke with the patient. It was found that it was not a bill issue but rather an issue of money to fix the central heat and air. With the help and guidance provided by our social worker, a company was willing to come a replace the patient's whole heat and air system at no cost to the patient. The patient did choose not to go this route by her own choice and instead stay with her space heaters but now the patient has help and other services she never would have had. Sometimes patients get lost in the shuffle of discharge and we forget that they are humans who need a touch of compassion and humanity as we all do. That day I saw the way Deb tried to help this patient. She does this often and it goes unnoticed as so many of us do but for once I want her to know her action meant something to the patient and her teammate.