The Emergency Room tends to be a bustling place with a revolving door dealing with treating the sick and this day was no different. A woman was flown in from Fairbanks 4 days after delivering her baby for newly developed heart failure. The woman arrives and we quickly get to work getting her the care she needs. Cardiology is consulted to evaluate the extent of her heart failure and finds it not to be as severe as initially described. Within a short time the decision is made to send her home. With no support system in town and her husband in Fairbanks taking care of her 4 day old by himself, she began to cry in frustration.
Krista sat by her side talking with her and discussing options on the best way to get her home. She made the call to social work who stated that it is the patient's responsibility to get themselves home. The patient, sleep deprived and exhausted from her medical condition was in no place to handle this on her own. Krista, enveloping the beauty of nursing, took the project on herself to get the patient reconnected with her family.
She began calling airlines and was able to solidify a cheap one-way ticket home. Not only was she able to find her an affordable ticket home, she purchased the ticket out of her own pocket just to ensure the stress was not on her patient or her family. She called the husband to let him know his wife would be on the way home, and his voice of relief was overpowering. Krista enveloped the entire sense of nursing that day and demonstrated true compassion. She demonstrated what it really means to love and care for our patients, to really be a nurse.
Note: This is Krista's second DAISY Award!