Pamela totally "knocked my socks off" with her outstanding clinical expertise and extraordinary compassionate care. I have been very ill in the past five years and have been a patient in Valley Health's Winchester Medical Center multiple times each year for various conditions and constant chronic pain from medical mistakes and 23 abdominal surgeries. In each incident before this visit, I have been sent home with no plan for managing constant chronic pain outside of the hospital. This changed with my current visit.
My nurse mentioned to my doctor that I was concerned about going home with no plan to manage my chronic pain. My doctor arranged for a pain management consultant and Pamela came to the rescue. She listened to my concerns and she clearly understood and cared about my quality of life, due to the inability to get my chronic pain addressed outside of the hospital.
Pamela's knowledge of managing chronic pain was incredible. Her knowledge base, combined with her compassion and empathy regarding my situation outside of the hospital, brought tears to my eyes. For the first time, I have hope that I might be able to live an almost pain-free life. This is huge, especially considering that the reluctance of most physicians to help me had previously brought me to the point of contemplating suicide. Pamela understood that the constant 8-10 pain was killing my spirit and my will to live. She did not judge me or give me the "drug seeking" lecture I have received from so many doctors.
Pamela went out of her way to design a pain management program for me during this stay and she didn't stop there. She continued to provide extraordinary compassionate care by finding and making me an appointment with a pain management specialist close by in Winchester. Pamela handled my insurance company, obtained the referral from my PCM, and made the appointment for me. She talked with the medical team I would be seeing and "paved the way" for me by filling them in on the pertinent background information. She is amazing and treated me so well.
Pamela also made certain to write scripts for meds to cover my pain until I can get things settled out and on track with the pain management group. She hand carried the script to the pharmacy and made arrangements for me to have the medicine in my hands before I left the hospital.
Thank you, Pamela, for saving my life.