Kate Batcha
February 2023
Kate
Batcha
,
BSN, RN
CVICU
Children's Minnesota
Minneapolis
,
MN
United States

 

 

 

Kate was willing and able to take the time at that moment to listen to my fears/worries and really understand my struggle.
Our son [patient] has Tetralogy and was born at Children's Minneapolis along with his identical twin brother and, as of this writing, is still admitted in the [Unit]. Kate Batcha was responsible for the care of our son [patient] on multiple occasions. After [patient] had an emergent open-heart surgery to place a shunt he encountered many complications and challenges and during some of our most difficult days, Kate was our nurse and had a profound positive impact. [Patient] had gone from ICU to IMC status in the [Unit] but started to trend in a negative direction until he was finally re-intubated, in part, due to a Chylothorax that led to him needing a chest tube. During this time Kate was our nurse and throughout her care of our son, she demonstrated very clearly, not only her competency in taking care of our critically ill son but also her heartfelt empathy for our son and our family's difficulties. On one particularly difficult morning, we received a phone call from Children's informing us that our son had pneumatosis and Necrotizing Enterocolitis. I did my best to hold it together emotionally at the hospital but Kate obviously took note of my demeanor and body language and was able to identify that I was not doing well and, in that moment, went above and beyond her job as a patient care provider and began to take care of me by allowing me to vent my fears/worries of when/if our son would ever get better. Kate was willing and able to take the time at that moment to listen to my fears/worries and really understand my struggle. Kate helped to calm my fears/worries by pointing out all our son had already overcome and the expert care he was receiving. She was able to help me remain positive and hopeful for the best possible outcome and ultimately helped us to be able to have peace of mind when we weren't at the hospital knowing that Kate would be there advocating for our son's care when we weren't able to ourselves. Kate more than exemplifies the criteria set forth for this award!