Maureen "Red" Lydon is an experienced nurse in both oncology and behavioral health. Her professionalism, compassion, skill set, kindness, and composition with patients are just some examples of exemplary nursing practice.
One day, a new patient came to our center who was recently diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer, on top of an extensive history of mental illness that caused increased complex issues in managing her care. Maureen was assigned as her nurse and immediately recognized the barriers to care in order to help her through treatment.
After reviewing the plan of care and proceeding with treatment, the patient made many frantic calls and visits to the center to address both acute and routine symptoms. In order to ease this patient's fears of symptoms and treatment, Maureen made it her mission to address any concerns in a timely fashion and create a therapeutic relationship with this patient. She reviewed treatments, provided nursing recommendations for the management of stress, addressed symptoms, frustrations, and proactively followed up to ensure this patient felt secure. Maureen has frequently called this patient during non-working hours to reduce distress and provide a listening ear for this patient to allow for a trusting relationship.
At each encounter, Maureen was able to use her dual clinical background to ease her patient's anxiety and create trust in her care. Maureen has provided this patient the ability to continue her treatment through continuous advocation for her needs, active listening, addressing concerns, providing extensive emotional support, and coordinating home services. Without the assistance of Maureen, this patient would not be able to manage her oncologic and psychologic symptoms. Her caring demeanor and ability to provide extensive personalized care for this patient is inspiring. Maureen is an excellent nurse who consistently practices clinical excellence with compassion to address complex needs.