I would like to sing the praises of one of your nurses Nathalie Midkiff. I was admitted as a patient on CCH7 off and on through most of January and part of February. The care I received from the nurses, care partners and the staff was EXCEPTIONAL.
Our day started in the usual fashion where the nurse and care partner would come in and introduce themselves and we would start the day. I was admitted to the hospital with tachycardia which made me somewhat orthostatic for which I received a diagnosis of POTS. My heart rate would elevate into the 150's when I was up and moving. I frequently set the alarms off on the heart monitor this seemed to make Nathalie a little uneasy because she was in my room frequently reassessing me. She sent the general surgery intern into my room to assess me and I was told that I was just deconditioned, I needed to "man up" get up and ambulate in the halls more than what I was doing. He was comfortable with me ambulating as long as my heart rate did not exceed 180 and if it were up to him I would be discharged to home and complete my recovery there. Nathalie was standing at the door when that conversation took place and I noticed her back out of the door. Nathalie escalated her concerns as I found out later to the attending, fellow, chief resident and then made it all of the way to the office of Dr. Z. To be honest, my wife is a redhead and yes it is true what they say about their temper, she wanted to choke one general surgery intern that day. The intern implied to her that she was not very intelligent then I replied she is a member of Mensa; therefore she could not be as dumb as he thought. As Dr. Z stood at my bedside apologizing for the actions of the intern, our concerns were put to rest and confidence was regained. All of this was done with a smile which is so appreciated especially when you do not feel well.
In retrospect, I wonder what would have happened if Nathalie would not have intervened and escalated her concerns. Nathalie is truly my guardian angel.