Linda Collins
May 2022
Linda S.
Collins
,
RN
Greater Charleston at home DaVita Dialysis
DaVita
South Charleston
,
WV
United States
It took tremendous dedication and effort from our patient and our nurse. Without Linda’s unfailing effort and support our story likely would have had a different ending.
At DaVita, our mission statement and core values align us to provide great patient care in an environment that is so much more than what first meets the eye. It’s about the culture in our facilities. It’s about the ripples we send out to our patients and their families by going the extra mile. It’s about taking great care of our patients, care partners, and one another as teammates. The name DaVita, after all, is an adaptation of the Italian phrase “Giving Life.” This is what teammates strive to do for DaVita patients every day. I would like to highlight a patient story and recognize one of our nurses for doing just that…. “Giving Life.”
An in-center hemodialysis patient at our Greater Charleston Dialysis facility announced to her care team that she was expecting. The team, knowing the patient’s history of past unsuccessful pregnancies, including a non-viable delivery at 23 weeks, connected with the Home Hemodialysis nurse, Linda, and encouraged this young patient to start HHD in order to receive more frequent dialysis treatments and ultimately increase the chances of a successful pregnancy. Our HHD nurse Linda had only been with DaVita a little over a year and was nervous about having an expecting mother as her patient. Despite her reservations, she jumped in with both feet. She engaged her physician partners, local leadership, and interdisciplinary team. Together they developed a training plan that included the patient and her significant other. Despite all of the moving pieces, Linda started HHD training with this patient within a week of their first conversation. Throughout training, and after the patient “went home,” Linda communicated daily with the patient and physician regarding an ever-changing target weight and blood pressure goal.
While managing her patient load, Linda coordinated frequent lab draws, sometimes twice weekly, in an effort to maintain specific parameters set by providers, including communications with the high-risk obstetrics office. Linda provided encouragement when the patient became overwhelmed and fear was taking over. Linda did not waiver and kept the goal in mind. She wanted to do everything she could to afford the patient and the unborn baby the best chance for a positive outcome.
The duration of dialysis and frequency per week increased as the pregnancy progressed to 5-6 hours per treatment, 6 days per week, totaling 30-36 hours per week of treatment time. It took tremendous dedication and effort from our patient and our nurse. Without Linda’s unfailing effort and support our story likely would have had a different ending. Baby A was born at 30 weeks and 2 days gestation. She spent a month in the NICU, but thrived without ventilation, and met milestones as expected. A was released to home with the full expectation of being a normal, loving, growing baby girl.
Our patient has stated that “I hope our story helps people understand that they can have a normal life. It just takes making a few adjustments.” Baby A continues to make frequent visits to the center with her mom and has become quite the mascot for our team and is living proof of the impact that an invested caregiver and team can provide. The Region 5 leadership team is nominating Linda Collins, HHD RN, of Greater Charleston Dialysis for The DAISY Award because of her steadfast dedication to giving “normal” back to a population of patients that would otherwise be missing out on life’s joys. No matter the sacrifice of her time and energy, Linda always puts the patients’ needs first.
An in-center hemodialysis patient at our Greater Charleston Dialysis facility announced to her care team that she was expecting. The team, knowing the patient’s history of past unsuccessful pregnancies, including a non-viable delivery at 23 weeks, connected with the Home Hemodialysis nurse, Linda, and encouraged this young patient to start HHD in order to receive more frequent dialysis treatments and ultimately increase the chances of a successful pregnancy. Our HHD nurse Linda had only been with DaVita a little over a year and was nervous about having an expecting mother as her patient. Despite her reservations, she jumped in with both feet. She engaged her physician partners, local leadership, and interdisciplinary team. Together they developed a training plan that included the patient and her significant other. Despite all of the moving pieces, Linda started HHD training with this patient within a week of their first conversation. Throughout training, and after the patient “went home,” Linda communicated daily with the patient and physician regarding an ever-changing target weight and blood pressure goal.
While managing her patient load, Linda coordinated frequent lab draws, sometimes twice weekly, in an effort to maintain specific parameters set by providers, including communications with the high-risk obstetrics office. Linda provided encouragement when the patient became overwhelmed and fear was taking over. Linda did not waiver and kept the goal in mind. She wanted to do everything she could to afford the patient and the unborn baby the best chance for a positive outcome.
The duration of dialysis and frequency per week increased as the pregnancy progressed to 5-6 hours per treatment, 6 days per week, totaling 30-36 hours per week of treatment time. It took tremendous dedication and effort from our patient and our nurse. Without Linda’s unfailing effort and support our story likely would have had a different ending. Baby A was born at 30 weeks and 2 days gestation. She spent a month in the NICU, but thrived without ventilation, and met milestones as expected. A was released to home with the full expectation of being a normal, loving, growing baby girl.
Our patient has stated that “I hope our story helps people understand that they can have a normal life. It just takes making a few adjustments.” Baby A continues to make frequent visits to the center with her mom and has become quite the mascot for our team and is living proof of the impact that an invested caregiver and team can provide. The Region 5 leadership team is nominating Linda Collins, HHD RN, of Greater Charleston Dialysis for The DAISY Award because of her steadfast dedication to giving “normal” back to a population of patients that would otherwise be missing out on life’s joys. No matter the sacrifice of her time and energy, Linda always puts the patients’ needs first.