Sally Specht
November 2012
Sally
Specht
,
RN
Acute Care
Penn State Hershey Medical Center
Hershey
,
PA
United States

 

 

 

Sally Specht has a style of nursing all to her own. Although, if you ask her why her patients love her so much she replies, "I'm just doing my job." Sally has been working at Hershey Medical Center for 31 years and one can only imagine how many lives she has touched with her skillful knowledge and compassionate heart.

The high regard for Sally does not end with her patients. Sally's coworkers say this when asked what it is like having her as a coworker: "Do you mean Sarge Sally? She is an AWESOME nurse. " "I know that when I work with Sally, everything is going to be OK, No matter what happens."

As a coworker: Sally always has your back. She was here before I started, and an LPN until just recently when she went back to school for her RN after her daughter finished her BSN in Nursing. Her experience level is incredible. No matter what title she had at the time, when she was here, you felt a relief. When you came in and saw the assignment board, and knew you would be working with her, you knew everything was going to be alright. If your patient was having a GI bleed, had a mucous plug in their trach, needed a bowel program, had intractable pain, or even coded, you knew she had seen it before, and would help you no matter what. She is an incredible advocate for patients, nurses, and families, whoever needed it. Sally makes sure fairness rules.

As a nurse: Sally has such a gift of a unique personality. She has a loud voice and great laugh. She is positive, fun and it's contagious around her patients. She can work wonders with a cranky older person getting them to take their meds, and cooperate with care, or calm the older teen. She can get any patient mobilizing and smiling when they absolutely said they weren't going to get out of bed that day.

One time she took care of a teen who needed immediate ENT surgery for severe tonsillitis. His parents could not get to the hospital in time before the surgery. Sally prepared him for it, told him what to expect, and filled in as a type of surrogate mom' for him because he was so scared. She hugged him as he left and reassured him everything would be ok, she would be right there when he came back.

Her patients love her sense of humor, her laughter, her energy, and her devotion to them. Many have asked about her, hoping she was returning the next shift. I believe they also have confidence that when she is their nurse, everything will be alright.