As a specialty clinic nurse, Mrs. Vaughn is very hands-on with our urology patients. Not only does the staff love her, but she is adored by every one of the patients she comes in contact with. Many of the patients have proclaimed that coming to the urology clinic to visit Karen is the highlight of their entire month! She has even been given the nickname "Angel" by the patients. The reason for this is simple, Karen treats everyone like they are her own family and it shows. Recently, Mrs. Vaughn accomplished something that was above and beyond the call of duty. Some of our patients receive chemotherapy for their bladder cancer with weekly visits to our clinic. The urology clinic VA Sacramento also provides the same treatment for their patients. However, their safety hood broke and they were unable to mix their chemotherapy to treat their patients. They called on DGMC urology staff to take over for these patients so they could continue without a break in their care. Before each patient can have their treatment, they are required to submit urine samples to the lab. Mrs. Vaughn reached out to both the VA clinic and the patients to coordinate both labs and appointments for each individual. No matter the barrier, Karen pushed through and made it happen. She worked tirelessly to make sure all 12 patients had weekly labs set up, along with their weekly visits to the clinic for their treatments. Some of these patients had to drive 2-3 hours away and Karen worked with them to fit them into the schedule at convenient times. She even came in on her off days and cut her vacation short in order to accommodate these extra VA patients. They were all so grateful for Karen, they said they hope the problem at the VA never gets fixed because they don't want to stop coming for treatment with Karen!
She is a shining example of what nursing is all about. She is truly an Angel!