When all eyes were on the Gulf and Hurricane Harvey making its way up the coast, Ambulatory Operations was trying to manage the high volume of calls coming into the Access Center from scared, displaced and many trapped patients needing help. Since Galveston was not as negatively impacted, I offered to help open some phone lines in the Primary Care Pavillion. I sent out a text to my leadership team asking if any staff could make it to the PCP for the afternoon I would be there to get them logged into the phones. I was assuming everyone would interpret that to be PSS (clerical) staff. The first to arrive was Luisa Hernandez, RN from Family Medicine Clinic. She did not hesitate to jump in her care and come in to help in any way she could. As we started logging into the phones and taking calls, we quickly realized how important it was to have her there. Even though they were not her patients or her comfort zone of specialty, she took any call, from any patient whom the PSS team felt needed to talk with a nurse. This helped relieve the RN staff at LCC in the access center who had worked through the 48 hours of emergency operations already.
Many of these patients were pregnant women who were in their last trimester, wanting to verify where they should go or how to get there during the storm. Many just needed someone to talk to regarding their fear of not having their medicines and not knowing whether they could get it. Luisa used her high level of nursing practice excellence and took ownership of any patient we gave to her. A number of the patients were Spanish speaking and required a translator. She was able to speak with them, calming and reassuring them that we were there to help. She reached out to her own team of doctors and some she had never worked with to ensure the patient needs were met. She never once acted resistant to take a call or acted like it was not her job taking questions from any patient, or any specialty or concern we gave her.
The following week as Hurricane Harvey continued to wreak havoc, our Texas City Clinic was damaged and had to be temporarily shut down. Providers and staff quickly had to relocate their practice from the Texas City Health clinic to many different sites, one of which was Island West Family Medicine. They were given less than 24 hours notice of where they would be seeing patients. One doctor came to Island West Family Medicine Clinic. After two days he sent us a note stating: "I appreciate all of your help, especially Nurse Luisa Hernandez for her Diabetic Instruction and Spanish translation." Again, Luisa jumped in and took ownership of patients in her area which may or may not be considered "her" team, ensuring a positive patient care experience and quality outcomes.
I have worked with Luisa a number of years and have seen these amazing qualities before, but in the last 3 weeks she has gone the extra mile and also demonstrated that she truly exemplifies the mission and vision of UTMB, "Working together to work wonders to improve the health of Texas and around the world".