Jenny Gilmore
January 2015
Jenny
Gilmore
,
BSN, RN, CMSRN, CN3
R5-Nephrology
Maine Medical Center
Portland
,
ME
United States
Jenny is R5's Unit Based Educator and I work with her on R5's complex discharges. On this particular occasion, I was assigned a case on R4. This patient had discharged from a facility where she had lived for several years and had gone to her new apartment. The patient was only home for four days before being admitted through the emergency room. During her stay, all her home health agencies withdrew their services leaving the patient and our staff in a difficult situation. This patient requires over 55 hours of home care just to maintain her health and living situation. I was charged with finding another agency to step in.
Fourteen agencies could not accept the patient and both I and the patient were feeling quite desperate as to how the patient would ever get home. Finally the fifteenth agency said they could but the CNA that could staff the hours was out of compliance with his BLS certifications. I called Jenny. In less than a few hours she had: arranged for the CNA to come in for training early the next day, requisitioned the training supplies to provide the training, got together all the training material and secured a space to administer the training. The next day the CNA came to MMC, completed his training with Jenny and was able to begin work with the patient so she could now go home. Jenny also took extra care to submit proof of certification to the CNA's employer, and expedited his certification with the state's database so he could easily provide his certification to his managers.
What makes Jenny's actions go above and beyond is this simple fact. When I approached Jenny about helping me with a patient that was not on her floor with an unplanned training for a non-MMC person that needed to happen the next day with no advanced notice, her reply sums up her attitude, "Yes." I am certain that this "yes" was followed with "Tell me what you need."
I know how extremely appreciative I am of Jenny's willingness to collaborate, her super attitude and her follow through. But I cannot imagine how appreciative the patient felt after being able to get back home with qualified staffing in place. Going home, for this patient, was her only goal for the past three years and Jenny made this possible.
Jenny's actions are example of "Excellence in Nursing" in action.
Fourteen agencies could not accept the patient and both I and the patient were feeling quite desperate as to how the patient would ever get home. Finally the fifteenth agency said they could but the CNA that could staff the hours was out of compliance with his BLS certifications. I called Jenny. In less than a few hours she had: arranged for the CNA to come in for training early the next day, requisitioned the training supplies to provide the training, got together all the training material and secured a space to administer the training. The next day the CNA came to MMC, completed his training with Jenny and was able to begin work with the patient so she could now go home. Jenny also took extra care to submit proof of certification to the CNA's employer, and expedited his certification with the state's database so he could easily provide his certification to his managers.
What makes Jenny's actions go above and beyond is this simple fact. When I approached Jenny about helping me with a patient that was not on her floor with an unplanned training for a non-MMC person that needed to happen the next day with no advanced notice, her reply sums up her attitude, "Yes." I am certain that this "yes" was followed with "Tell me what you need."
I know how extremely appreciative I am of Jenny's willingness to collaborate, her super attitude and her follow through. But I cannot imagine how appreciative the patient felt after being able to get back home with qualified staffing in place. Going home, for this patient, was her only goal for the past three years and Jenny made this possible.
Jenny's actions are example of "Excellence in Nursing" in action.