North Tower 4 Nursing at UHS Wilson Medical Center
May 2022
North Tower 4 Nursing
at UHS Wilson Medical Center
North Tower 4
United Health Services Hospitals - Wilson Regional Medical Center
Johnson City
,
NY
United States
Carmencita Adonis-Abrantes, Elizabeth Beers, Lindsey Burgos, Emma Clinton, Mejdina Durakovic, Kandace Edwards, Lacey Erne, Sara Ferrara, Alicia Gonzalez, Jontue Gregory, Lillith Harrington, Cindy Howard, Sarah Jackson, Morgan Johnson, Carolyn Kleitz, Sara Knapp, Rachael Leung, Lindsey Mastronardi, Gabriela Merales-Nichols, Marissa Mihalko, Jennifer Oleksza, Liam Olsen, Katie Pralat, Dustin Ralston, Donna Rinker, Nicholas Slack, Kathleen Stasko, Hope Tyson, Elizabeth VanCamp,
This team has never wavered from living our Values. Compassion, trust, and respect were shown on a consistent basis especially since visitation was restricted.
I would like to recognize Sarah Jackson for her leadership of the North Tower 4 staff and the entire NT4 team for all their efforts over the past year with COVID care. This team has never wavered from living our Values. Compassion, trust, and respect were shown on a consistent basis especially since visitation was restricted. The NT4 staff took on the role of being not only the caregiver but also companions to patients. This was evident in several special thank you notes including:
“I want to especially thank you for the kindness, compassion, and insights you have shared with me and members of my family. With current limitations on visiting, you have really been the eyes and ears, the hands and hearts in caring for her as well as for me and my family.”
“Our family would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the loving and compassionate care rendered to J during his last weeks on earth. You have no idea how much this meant. Just being able to see him will give us peace and closure until we all meet again. You are a wonderful group of people who exemplify the art of nursing.”
“Although D wanted to go home more than anything, he frequently spoke of the wonderful care he was receiving from all of you. Often while speaking with him on the phone, we could hear one or more of his nurses in the background. You were always kind, caring, and compassionate. When we were unable to reach him on his room phone, we called you. As busy as you were, (and we know you are!), you always took our calls, encouraged us to continue to call, transferred our calls to his room, and called us back when needed. If you were unable to make a transfer, you gave him messages from us. The communication between D and his friends was important and reassuring to him, and to us. Thank you for making it happen with your professionalism and dedication. We can’t imagine the daily demands that are placed on all of you, especially during this time of covid. In spite of the added work and stress, we never heard it in your voices or interactions with us. D also spoke of how well he was cared for….Thank you for your gift of caring and compassion in his end-of-life care.”
Sarah’s son making Christmas cards for all the patients. This team exemplified how a team comes together to make sure that they provide an outstanding patient experience, support for one another, and service to the community. Teamwork was demonstrated when NT4 combined staffing with other units to meet the needs of the patients, with their willingness to pick up extra for vacant shifts to support one another and work with ancillaries to develop new workflows. This team took on the workload of ancillary staff to prevent the potential spread to other units/patients by completing lab draws, cleaning the unit, distributing food trays, etc. When BGH started to accept COVID patients, NT4 staff was there to help and were described as “the most delightful float help from your unit…..They were so good…so positive, kind, helpful, etc. We could not have done it without your help”.
Innovation was key for the success of NT4 as they challenged themselves to be continuous learners. This staff developed new knowledge and skills by becoming credentialed for basic coronary care for telemetry monitoring and for phlebotomy lab draws. They became knowledgeable in COVID care with new medication infusions and increased acuity of patients. This team remained adaptive, switching from individual negative pressure rooms to a fully negative pressure unit.
One patient wrote: “I thought you would like to see how happy your staff was the day that fourth floor North Tower became a negative pressure floor. Everyone was a beacon of light coming in to care for us in the max air Capper helmets”. Finally, in late June, NT4 has been converted back from a fully negative pressure unit. This conversion took an immense amount of effort from Sarah and the NT4 team along with EVS and Engineering.
I cannot begin to express my gratitude to this team. While the past year has posed many challenges, you all rose to each of them and led using the UHS Way by giving hope, listening, and showing respect.
“I want to especially thank you for the kindness, compassion, and insights you have shared with me and members of my family. With current limitations on visiting, you have really been the eyes and ears, the hands and hearts in caring for her as well as for me and my family.”
“Our family would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the loving and compassionate care rendered to J during his last weeks on earth. You have no idea how much this meant. Just being able to see him will give us peace and closure until we all meet again. You are a wonderful group of people who exemplify the art of nursing.”
“Although D wanted to go home more than anything, he frequently spoke of the wonderful care he was receiving from all of you. Often while speaking with him on the phone, we could hear one or more of his nurses in the background. You were always kind, caring, and compassionate. When we were unable to reach him on his room phone, we called you. As busy as you were, (and we know you are!), you always took our calls, encouraged us to continue to call, transferred our calls to his room, and called us back when needed. If you were unable to make a transfer, you gave him messages from us. The communication between D and his friends was important and reassuring to him, and to us. Thank you for making it happen with your professionalism and dedication. We can’t imagine the daily demands that are placed on all of you, especially during this time of covid. In spite of the added work and stress, we never heard it in your voices or interactions with us. D also spoke of how well he was cared for….Thank you for your gift of caring and compassion in his end-of-life care.”
Sarah’s son making Christmas cards for all the patients. This team exemplified how a team comes together to make sure that they provide an outstanding patient experience, support for one another, and service to the community. Teamwork was demonstrated when NT4 combined staffing with other units to meet the needs of the patients, with their willingness to pick up extra for vacant shifts to support one another and work with ancillaries to develop new workflows. This team took on the workload of ancillary staff to prevent the potential spread to other units/patients by completing lab draws, cleaning the unit, distributing food trays, etc. When BGH started to accept COVID patients, NT4 staff was there to help and were described as “the most delightful float help from your unit…..They were so good…so positive, kind, helpful, etc. We could not have done it without your help”.
Innovation was key for the success of NT4 as they challenged themselves to be continuous learners. This staff developed new knowledge and skills by becoming credentialed for basic coronary care for telemetry monitoring and for phlebotomy lab draws. They became knowledgeable in COVID care with new medication infusions and increased acuity of patients. This team remained adaptive, switching from individual negative pressure rooms to a fully negative pressure unit.
One patient wrote: “I thought you would like to see how happy your staff was the day that fourth floor North Tower became a negative pressure floor. Everyone was a beacon of light coming in to care for us in the max air Capper helmets”. Finally, in late June, NT4 has been converted back from a fully negative pressure unit. This conversion took an immense amount of effort from Sarah and the NT4 team along with EVS and Engineering.
I cannot begin to express my gratitude to this team. While the past year has posed many challenges, you all rose to each of them and led using the UHS Way by giving hope, listening, and showing respect.