Kim has gone above and beyond to help keep my son safe. My son has a very complex medical history and has unfortunately had some issues in the past with ensuring that all teams review and implement protocols put in place for his specific care. These events have led to extremely unfortunate situations for my child, and for me as well. Kim has spent hours connecting with team members, making sure they were aware of the complexities of my child's case. She would follow up with each service to ensure they not only understood the protocol specific for him but the complications that had occurred in the past when his protocol was not followed. Kim posted allergy signs in his chart, on his IV pole and even over his dressing to prevent repeat mistakes. Kim constructed a dressing kit full of the supplies that were considered safe for my child and sent them with him to the OR. She ordered his new fluids and had them ready and available to the surgical team so they would be able to hang them as quickly as possible to prevent glucose issues. And sadly, despite all of her hard work, my son came out of the OR with a dressing that was improperly secured and needed to be immediately changed to prevent infection. Kim stayed over to help place a safer dressing on my very upset child. The most remarkable part of this, to me, is this was not the first time Kim worked so hard for my son on an OR day, not only that, she willingly volunteered to take him as a patient on two more occasions after this extremely stressful day. Kim turned down taking the day off because she felt strongly that she needed to be present on his OR days to help advocate for him due to his complex situation, with which she has become very familiar.
Kim has made these OR days easier for me because of her advocating for my child. She has walked him to the OR prep area with me to help ensure the protocols were followed by all service involved in his care. Much of my son's needs do not follow typical protocol, which is why his team has spent so much time creating ones specific to him. Communicating those protocols to those who have never worked with my child can be an obstacle. Kim has made a commitment to help us overcome these obstacles for us, making my child's patient experience better. Kim helps to eliminate a lot of the stress for me on OR days which dramatically improves my patient experience as a caregiver. I believe this amazing lady needs a medal of honor for enduring the challenges of managing the care of my extremely complex child and she does it even when given the opportunity to go home instead. How do you possibly thank someone for taking such amazing care of your sick child?
She talks with my child on his level. Kim plays games with him and has built a unique level of trust with this sweet child who has endured more in his short life than most of us do in a lifetime. My child spends a lot of time in the hospital, Kim makes sure that he not only has quality care but quality of life.
Before going to the OR my five year old looked at Kim and said, "Miss Kim will you go with me and stand guard over me?" The previous trip to the OR ended with him needing to undergo a dressing change once he arrived back up on the floor. It was clear that that traumatic event was not far from his mind on this trip to the OR and he knew he could trust his very special nurse to make sure they didn't make the same mistake again.
At this point, Kim knows his medical history as well as I do and is an incredible support to me in advocating for his care.