Kelly is consistently a caring and compassionate nurse, who not only takes the time to care for her patient's and family's medical needs but also their emotional needs. As the mother of 3 children, one with special needs, Kelly is acutely aware of the importance of the "little things" in making life better. I have seen her provide families with information and resources they may find helpful, even though not related to the reason for their visit to our urgent care. Most recently, this was with a family concerned about their son's coordination (not the reason the child was in our urgent care). Kelly suggested that they discuss their concerns with his PCP and then offered them information regarding play therapy for improving coordination. They were very appreciative of the information.
My favorite example of Kelly going above and beyond in working with a family to meet their needs involved a family from Los Angeles. This family was in Colorado over the holidays with plans to watch the Ohio State Buckeyes in a New Year's Eve bowl game. A became ill with a respiratory virus and was brought to our urgent care where her oxygen level was low. We needed to observe her for several hours to determine whether she needed to be admitted or was safe to be discharged on home O2. Of course, this was on New Year's Eve during the Buckeye Bowl Game and we do not have cable TV in our department. Kelly proceeded to loan A's family her own person iPad so they could watch the football game while we observed their daughter's O2 saturation. That made their day.
The story doesn't end there. The family was discharged on home O2 with instructions to bring A back the next day for an oxygen recheck. Of course, A's sats were still too low to be taken off oxygen, which led to the next challenge. The family had plane tickets to return to LA and didn't know whether they could fly with the oxygen tank or how to return once they got home.
Kelly and the Wheat Ridge team started doing research and making calls to figure out how to help this family get home. In the process, the staff learned the ins and outs of flying while on oxygen. A was going to need an oxygen concentrator as O2 tanks are not allowed on airlines and a letter of medical need. Our provider wrote the letter to the airline and the nursing team found a local company to set up home O2 via concentrator for A to fly home, but not until after the holiday weekend, so the family delayed their flight.
Kelly sent a letter to A's family thanking them for allowing us to care for her, inquiring as to whether they were able to get home without further incident and if there was any other information regarding flying with oxygen that would be helpful to us in the event we have another family in the same situation. Kelly received the following email from A's mom, along with a couple of beautiful pictures of A:
Hi Kelly,
Thank you all for the sweet thank you. Your kindness and care went beyond, and we are so grateful for it! I mean, you even helped us watch our beloved Buckeyes get demolished on New Year's Eve. We did end up pushing our flight home, and J drove and got us portable oxygen for the flight. And, as predicted, when we went directly to the pediatrician back in CA, her oxygen level was back to perfect. I was a total paranoid mom and said, "check it again! You don't understand, all we've been talking about the last five days is this level!"
So yep, she's an LA girl. As much as I hope we never have to be sick while visiting family in Colorado again, now at least I know there is a wonderful place to go if ever we need. Thank you again for all your kindness.
Love,
A's family