Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson recently had a patient who was needing to come to surgery emergently for a procedure that had a high risk of him not surviving due to his health status. Several hours had passed from the initiation of the need for this Veteran’s surgery to when he was being brought to the pre-op area due to the complexity of the surgical need. Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson went to the pre-op area to pick this patient up and take him to the surgical suite and the patient stated he did not want to go back to surgery until he had signed his will. The pre-op nurse informed her that the Veteran had been very focused on his will and the staff was having issues getting ahold of the brother who had the will in his possession and the social worker that was involved. Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson spoke to the patient to ask for his permission to go find his brother who was in the hospital and to speak with the social worker on his behalf to better understand the situation and he was agreeable to this.

Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson went back to the inpatient unit the Veteran had been on and spoke with the nurse there who cared for him and together they went down to the cafeteria to find the brother explained the situation and brought him up to the social worker on the inpatient ward. The social worker explained that due to the financial element of the will document and the need for notarization, they were unable to help with this. Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson and the brother returned to the pre-op area and explained the circumstances of the document signing related to social work and relayed that they would not be able to help. The Veteran was incredibly disappointed in this outcome and expressed increased worry about how important it was to him to sign this document. Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson was unwilling to accept this as the outcome for her patient and stepped away to alert the surgeon and anesthesiologist of the recent developments and to look for an alternative solution for this problem.

After reaching out to several different departments Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson was able to get the teller from the Credit Union to come up as a Notary Public, a member of the Patient Advocate Team, and one of the hospital Volunteers to come up as witnesses to the signing of the document. The Veteran was able to sign his will with the help of the team that was called for help. The Veteran was visibly relieved that he had been able to complete this very important mission which had been very frustrating and concerning for him as barriers were placed in the way; he expressed profound gratitude to all involved.

Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson was then able to take the Veteran to his surgery with peace of mind and renewed confidence in the Madison VA staff and their commitment to ensuring we do all we can to provide the best care possible. Ms. Seldal-Gilbertson displayed excellent customer service resourcefulness and a commitment to excellence for her patient and should be recognized for her efforts to break down barriers and look for creative solutions to serving our Veterans.