Gemma Diaz
May 2021
Gemma
Diaz
,
RN
Outpatient Pulmonary Clinic
Stanford Health Care
Palo Alto
,
CA
United States

 

 

 

I know she works overtime for many of her patients and will not stop until the patient’s needs are met and she truly honors Stanford’s Mission of Excellence.
I have had the great fortune to interact with Gemma who is the RN in the Pulmonary Clinic. Unfortunately, I have a very complex case that is not being managed well in the community. It rises to the level of needing intensive care from an Academic Center and since I worked at Stanford for many years it became obvious, I needed to return there for my care despite being far away. Over  the last 8-12 weeks I have required far too much of Gemma’s time and attention due to major problems with the local community hospital.  Gemma has been a “Rock Star” to put it mildly.  She has kept me sane, which after my traumatic experiences at the community level has not been easy.  She has doggedly gone head-to-head with the director of Risk Management (often multiple times a day) as my staunch advocate to obtain critical pathology that the community hospital did not want to release despite multiple requests. Gemma has also interacted with the Director of the Lab on my behalf to get slides, she has had to make multiple requests for radiological images/reports and other patient records which the medical assistant was unable to obtain. (Definitely, not her job but I cannot get critical follow-up without it!). Her integrity is transparent and must be acknowledged as being at the highest level.  

Her commitment is second to none.  I know she works overtime for many of her patients and will not stop until the patient’s needs are met and she truly honors Stanford’s Mission of Excellence. I have touched on her advocacy above.  

Her level of respect for me and my spouse goes above and beyond.  I always thank her in Tagalog (Salamat) as it’s the only way I know to really thank her for the care she gives, and she often giggles and says “Walang anuman” (which translates to “its nothing”).  But it is not nothing!  Gemma follows all the English language directives of Stanford, but this is my one way of trying to convey to her the respect my spouse and I have for her. I hope that my statement is a shining example of the excellence that Gemma gives to all Stanford Hospital’s employees and above all the patients and their families.