Megan Tulenko
March 2021
Megan
Tulenko
,
RN
Multitrauma Unit
Swedish Medical Center

 

 

 

Meg held his hand and shared tears with him as he visited with his mom.
Meg is the definition of what it means to be a nurse. She is compassionate, intelligent, dedicated to giving her patients the best possible care, and she has a heart of gold. Shortly after becoming a member of the MTU family, Meg was in a devastating car accident. Her and her boyfriend were t-boned by a speeding car. This could have killed them both, but it didn't. Meg has no recollection of the accident. She suffered a pelvic fracture; jaw fracture; rub fractures; and worst of all, a traumatic brain injury. During the time of her accident, Denver Health was not allowing visitors. Meg had to rely on her nurses for everything, and they truly made her proud to be a nurse.
After multiple surgeries, rehab, outpatient speech therapy, and several months of healing, Meg was able to return to work. She is an inspiration to every nurse on our unit. After being in our patients' shoes, she has the ability to connect with them on a whole new level. Recently, we had a patient on our floor who was in a car accident with his mother. She was in ICU and not doing well. Meg coordinated with our social worker to bring the patient down to ICU to see his mom for the first time during his hospitalization. Meg held his hand and shared tears with him as he visited with his mom. His mom was unresponsive, and he became extremely emotional. Meg was his support system during this difficult time. While the patient was sad, he was so thankful that he was able to see his mom and have Meg by his side through it all. This is just one example of something Meg has done for a patient. She does things like this almost every shift. She is so deserving of this award. Thank you, Meg, for all that you do. You are incredible.