Jason Aikele 2, RN,BSN

I worked with Jason from the Cath lab in October on medical. I had a patient who had to have a thrombectomy in the CCL. She was from Colombia, so obviously did not have any insurance coverage here. After the procedure was completed, I was trying to help Dr. S figure out which blood thinner she would be able to afford while completing her visit in the US. I talked to case management and found out her monthly income in Colombia is equivalent to only about $300 here. Jason called Dr. S and asked which medication he would prefer her to be on and got it ordered.

He also tried to help me get a hold of the cardiology clinic to get a sample of one of the medications for her. When we couldn't get through over the phone, Jason went over to the cardiology clinic himself to get a sample for her. He was able to find a month-long sample to get her through the rest of her stay in the US before going home to Colombia. I honestly don't know what she would have done otherwise, and even case management could not give me any answers.

When I initially talked to the patient and her family member about the cost of Eliquis or Xarelto, they were shocked, to say the least, and had no idea how they would afford that. When Jason was able to bring in the sample, their level of relief was palpable. He genuinely made my job easier that day and was able to seriously decrease future risk to the patient by getting her the appropriate blood thinner before discharge. Just wanted to share the story with you guys! He is a pretty great teammate and definitely cares about patients, even the ones who aren't his!

This is Jason's second DAISY Award!