It is with great love in our hearts that my husband, my daughter, and I nominate Kati Matzenbacher for the DAISY Award. Time and time again, she demonstrates the department's core values of a Nurse, but she exudes the core values of Christus Health System. The following is our story of why we happily nominate, Nurse Kati:
One day, our daughter experienced her second major internal bleeding episode. Kati was not my daughter's primary nurse on this particular day, but served as the Resource Nurse, an extra set of hands instead. My husband and I walked into her room to find another nurse (may God bless her) moving vigorously, staying calm and doing her best to keep everyone on task and focused as we easily pinpointed the bleeding. It was scary to see our daughter continuously cough up/throw up streams of blood from her mouth, and then her nose. That day, my husband and I learned how to gently suction her mouth as the nurse and Kati moved about, following the orders requested of them. My daughter's bleeding was like watching a horror movie as if it was the bubonic plague or something. Kati's presence that day was one of the examples of why we believe she deserves the DAISY Award.
Not only did she provide my family with strength for this "not so good" day, but in watching and listening to her communicate with the other nurse, to support her colleague in a high-stress situation, and communicate to us what was going on, my husband and I truly felt like part of this medical team. Sure, we are not medically trained, but as Mom and Dad, we were empowered to understand what was going on and to just pray at that moment. Kati demonstrates the core value of "always puts the patient and family first."
The next day Kati served our family by being our daughter's nurse. While the previous day was a challenge in itself, this day, a new day, was just as challenging. Kati repeatedly called me on my mobile phone to patch me through to the doctor to talk about follow-up and game plan of the internal bleeding. I appreciated Kati's persistence as we all tend to screen calls these days. So the game plan was that our daughter was going to be taken to Radiology to see if her "plumbing" was working as much as could be, given she is a short gut baby with a damaged liver and distended gallbladder. I watch how Kati walked around her room organizing wires, monitors, tubes, and talking to other staff members with positive energy and professionalism.
One of my favorite stories about Kati is when communicating with who I think was a lab tech, Kati had a discussion with this gentleman over what I know to be the oval-shaped communication device that all nurses wear and then at the end of the conversation, she was asked to give her first and last name for what I think was an accountability protocol. Kati abbreviated the spelling of her last name, knowing that the long spelling of her last name could end up to be a 10-minute conversation. Next, she complimented the person on the other end of the line, thanked him for his help and proceeded to prep our daughter for Radiology. I smile when I think about this story because it was a chance for me to see Kati's personality shine when working with her fellow staff members. We truly see Kati as a genuine person demonstrating the core value of "is always compassionate and courteous."
On this same day, Kati demonstrated the core value of "delivering excellent care" as she truly did the "heavy lifting" in prepping our daughter for a field trip to Radiology... And she did it with a smile on her face. Then once she returned from Radiology, with wires tangled like a giant bowl of spaghetti, Kati continued that energetic service to my family, by serving her. I guarantee that if Kati wore a pedometer to work that day, she would have hit the 10,000 step mark. I understand that being a nurse is Kati's job, but with Kati, I sincerely believe it is more than that. I see the love and passion for what she does in her kind voice, in her smile and in the way she excitedly says, "I love your daughter." When she says such a caring statement, I am confident she is actually saying "I love my job."
When my daughter, my husband and I arrived at Children's Hospital as transfers, we were stressed and uncertain about being at Children's Hospital of San Antonio, but it was the medicine that our daughter needed that led us here. Now, multiple months later, it is the constant interaction with nurses like Kati that my husband and I feel like this is where our family belongs and for now, is a place we call home.