February 2022
Lynn
Salazar
,
RN
Operations
Audie Murphy VA Hospital
San Antonio
,
TX
United States
The Veteran’s spouse stated, “we had changed her life.” She was very appreciative of Ms. Salazar for recommending and demonstrating how to use the lift.
PCU was caring for a 51-year-old Veteran who was status post Traumatic Brain Injury secondary to an IED and had many other comorbidities which required him to need full-time care. The veteran was medically ready to be discharged however the primary medicine team expressed safety concerns due to the Veteran’s home ceiling lift having been removed for repairs and the Veteran was unable to transfer himself from bed to wheelchair. This Veteran was eager to be discharged so the PCU Nurse Manager, contacted Ms. Salazar, our facility's Safe Patient Handling Coordinator. Ms. Salazar suggested borrowing the Maxi Move from 2W and came to PCU to demonstrate how to lift the patient safely. During the demonstration, the spouse was at the bedside and expressed that this is exactly what she needed at home. The Veteran’s spouse had to physically lift the patient to assist in transferring him from bed to wheelchair. Ms. Salazar provided in detail how the physician’s prosthetics consult needed to write to ensure the home-based lift would be provided without delay. And that’s exactly what occurred, the lift was ordered prior to the patient's discharge. Unfortunately, the Veteran was re-admitted back to PCU a few months later. Ms. Sanchez was able to follow-up with the Veteran’s spouse and speak in length about the Maxi Move lift. The Veteran’s spouse stated, “we had changed her life.” She was very appreciative of Ms. Salazar for recommending and demonstrating how to use it. She was able to successfully transfer her husband from the bed to the chair without injury to him or herself using the home-based ceiling lift. This is our big thank you to Lynn for coming to assist in getting the Veteran home back and for providing the information on how to order the home-based ceiling lift to ensure Veteran and caregiver safety during transfers.