Stephanie "Fannie"
Reed
October 2012
Stephanie "Fannie"
Reed
,
RN
Float
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital
Fairbanks
,
AK
United States

 

 

 

This week, Fannie was working in the ICU to help out and admitted an elderly patient post cardiac cath who was the primary caregiver for his elderly wife. The wife was in a wheelchair and needed to use the restroom, so Fannie took it upon herself to escort her to the restroom. Once in the restroom, Fannie found that the patient's wife had an ostomy that had popped open. She helped the wife maintain the cleanliness of her clothes and cleaned her all up. Unfortunately, the ostomy device was broken off the skin all together and no longer salvageable, so Fannie made a temporary fix and took the wife back to her husband's room while they waited on family to bring in some more supplies. Once the supplies were available, Fannie took the patient's wife back to the bathroom and secured the new device so that the patient would be clean and tidy. What really impressed me about this was that the unit was very busy that day and without hesitation, Fannie took the time to meet her patient's needs by helping to take care of his wife. It was so inspiring to see that Fannie did not even see her initiative as extraordinary, but just as "doing her job." During this shift, Fannie was truly and insightful and sensitive caregiver, who led by example and really went above and beyond for her patient and his family.