This nurse literally saved a life today by being diligent and attentive to patient behaviors in our unit. 

We had a patient who had been seen by our clinic for a few months by an outside provider, whom the staff had gotten to know very well. The patient is very hard of hearing and typically has staff yelling to have him understand his appointment schedule and what is happening, but his lovable nature really makes us smile each time. We noticed that this patient always shows up at least 30 minutes early for appointments. On this day, however, our older gentleman patient wasn't present for his 0830 appointment, and wouldn't answer phone calls despite the entire staff trying. 

Our Charge Nurse, Megan Comunale, was concerned, knowing that this was unlike the patient and that she had to take action. She took it upon herself to contact city police to do a wellness check. The officers showed up and heard the patient's phone ringing, but there was no answer to the door. Eventually, the officers got into this patient's residence and found him lying on the bathroom floor. The patient had fallen and hit his head but was unable to stand back up or get to the phone. The patient was okay and was able to tell officers that he had been on the floor for about 5 hours. This patient was rushed to Alexandria Hospital emergently afterward.

As a critical care nurse, I have seen the devastation of patients being immobilized on the floor for hours or days without being able to get in contact with anyone. Due to the diligence and keen observation, this patient's life was saved to hopefully have our beloved patient back in our clinic another day.