Jasmine Vega
October 2018
Jasmine
Vega
,
BSN, RN
MICU
University Medical Center
Lubbock
,
TX
United States
Jasmine Vega is a member of the Medical ICU team and has one of the most caring and compassionate attitudes towards our patients. She is a delight to work with and can always be counted on to lift the spirits of her fellow coworkers.
Recently, Jasmine went above and beyond for a family experiencing the most awful time of their lives. Her actions helped this family through the most difficult parts and enabled them to have a few lasting memories they can cherish for the rest of their lives.
Jasmine was caring for a young mother, who unfortunately ended up on life support on our unit while still pregnant with her 4th child. In order to save the infant's life, the medical team took him prematurely and he is currently in the care of the NICU team. It was evident, however, that the mother would not make it off life support to go home with her family. The father wanted to wait to withdraw care on his wife the day after her birthday and wanted to break the news to his children at a birthday party for the mother, to be held in her ICU room.
Jasmine did everything she could to not only help coordinate this somber event but also to get help from others to give this family a memory they can cherish. She came up with the idea to make handprints of the mother for all the family members, and after the news had been delivered by the palliative care team, she was there to comfort the children with a craft.
The children each included their own handprints with their mother's, which Jasmine collected to finish preparing. She was even able to coordinate with the NICU nurse to get the newborn's footprints for them to have when they're older. From PICU, she was able to obtain coloring books to also provide some comfort to the 3 children, ages 5, 6, and 12. Jasmine got the aid of one of her co-workers to do calligraphy for each of the handprints to say, "Mommy and Me".
Jasmine took this project home with her to finish on her own time, and with her own money. She bought frames for the handprints and made a memory box for the family. She remembered the patient's mother had read Bible verses to her daughter every day, as she prayed for a miracle, so Jasmine included an appropriate Biblical verse about mothers and daughters. When she came up on her day off to see the family, before they were to withdraw on their loved one, she was able to provide a few smiles, as well as emotional tears of gratitude.
Recently, Jasmine went above and beyond for a family experiencing the most awful time of their lives. Her actions helped this family through the most difficult parts and enabled them to have a few lasting memories they can cherish for the rest of their lives.
Jasmine was caring for a young mother, who unfortunately ended up on life support on our unit while still pregnant with her 4th child. In order to save the infant's life, the medical team took him prematurely and he is currently in the care of the NICU team. It was evident, however, that the mother would not make it off life support to go home with her family. The father wanted to wait to withdraw care on his wife the day after her birthday and wanted to break the news to his children at a birthday party for the mother, to be held in her ICU room.
Jasmine did everything she could to not only help coordinate this somber event but also to get help from others to give this family a memory they can cherish. She came up with the idea to make handprints of the mother for all the family members, and after the news had been delivered by the palliative care team, she was there to comfort the children with a craft.
The children each included their own handprints with their mother's, which Jasmine collected to finish preparing. She was even able to coordinate with the NICU nurse to get the newborn's footprints for them to have when they're older. From PICU, she was able to obtain coloring books to also provide some comfort to the 3 children, ages 5, 6, and 12. Jasmine got the aid of one of her co-workers to do calligraphy for each of the handprints to say, "Mommy and Me".
Jasmine took this project home with her to finish on her own time, and with her own money. She bought frames for the handprints and made a memory box for the family. She remembered the patient's mother had read Bible verses to her daughter every day, as she prayed for a miracle, so Jasmine included an appropriate Biblical verse about mothers and daughters. When she came up on her day off to see the family, before they were to withdraw on their loved one, she was able to provide a few smiles, as well as emotional tears of gratitude.