NataliyaLizanets
September 2020
Nataliya
Lizanets
,
RN
Operating Room
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway
Rahway
,
NJ
United States
During the COVID-19 pandemic, as the hospital was brimming with patients who were very sick and had to be isolated, the role of Nurse Liaison was created. Nataliya, a redeployed OR nurse, stepped up to fill this role. She was tasked with visiting each patient on the floor and using an iPad to FaceTime with patients and their families. Before doing this, she would meet with the patient's nurse and obtain the latest information about the patient, and relay this information to the patient and his/her family.
Due to the COVID-19 virus, no visitors were allowed in the hospital. This left patients alone, afraid, and without family support -- during an enormously difficult time. Nataliya understood how important this role would be for the patient and their family; becoming almost a surrogate family member. She was the link between the patients' medical and nursing care and their families. She was also the link to communication between loved ones. Nataliya approached the nurse liaison role with confidence and with a real deep sense of purpose and commitment. But this was no ordinary redeployment position. The role was even more complex - because in helping to facilitate communication, Nataliya knew that this position would put her in harm's way and increase the likelihood that she could catch the virus. But she did it anyway.
I gave her an iPad to use, relayed the expectations of the role, and provided her with helpful materials, and sent her on her way - reminding her to contact me if she needed anything at all.
She came back to my office...
• For spare reading glasses so her patient who forgot their glasses could read.
• For phone charges when their batteries ran out.
• For patient activity pages - so her patients who felt better could pass the time with a distraction.
• She also came when she saw and felt the pain of depression and helplessness from one of her patients - and she herself needed to recharge and to figure out how to better help him.
For things, little and big, Natalya was always trying to meet the patients' needs.
Nataliya got to know her patients, their spouses, their children and grandchildren, their favorite teams and TV shows, their concerns, and their deep fears.
She provided a helping hand, important health information, reassuring words, a hand to hold, and a shoulder to cry on. Families were desperate to be next to their loved ones, but couldn't. Natalya was a bright spot and an encouraging connection in an otherwise dark, lonely, and scary time in our patients' lives.
And then she got sick from the virus, and she went out to recover.
She got well, returned, and jumped right back into the thick of things - helping the nurses, facilitating communication between patients and families, being that one person whose singular focus was to be present for and with the patient. I stood in awe of her as she took this critically important role back on.
The pandemic created an almost unimaginably difficult situation for patients and their families; their separation from each other was torture for both. Nataliya felt this void deeply and did a remarkable job of helping patients through the worst of times with kindness and compassion, with a sense of purpose, and with love.
Due to the COVID-19 virus, no visitors were allowed in the hospital. This left patients alone, afraid, and without family support -- during an enormously difficult time. Nataliya understood how important this role would be for the patient and their family; becoming almost a surrogate family member. She was the link between the patients' medical and nursing care and their families. She was also the link to communication between loved ones. Nataliya approached the nurse liaison role with confidence and with a real deep sense of purpose and commitment. But this was no ordinary redeployment position. The role was even more complex - because in helping to facilitate communication, Nataliya knew that this position would put her in harm's way and increase the likelihood that she could catch the virus. But she did it anyway.
I gave her an iPad to use, relayed the expectations of the role, and provided her with helpful materials, and sent her on her way - reminding her to contact me if she needed anything at all.
She came back to my office...
• For spare reading glasses so her patient who forgot their glasses could read.
• For phone charges when their batteries ran out.
• For patient activity pages - so her patients who felt better could pass the time with a distraction.
• She also came when she saw and felt the pain of depression and helplessness from one of her patients - and she herself needed to recharge and to figure out how to better help him.
For things, little and big, Natalya was always trying to meet the patients' needs.
Nataliya got to know her patients, their spouses, their children and grandchildren, their favorite teams and TV shows, their concerns, and their deep fears.
She provided a helping hand, important health information, reassuring words, a hand to hold, and a shoulder to cry on. Families were desperate to be next to their loved ones, but couldn't. Natalya was a bright spot and an encouraging connection in an otherwise dark, lonely, and scary time in our patients' lives.
And then she got sick from the virus, and she went out to recover.
She got well, returned, and jumped right back into the thick of things - helping the nurses, facilitating communication between patients and families, being that one person whose singular focus was to be present for and with the patient. I stood in awe of her as she took this critically important role back on.
The pandemic created an almost unimaginably difficult situation for patients and their families; their separation from each other was torture for both. Nataliya felt this void deeply and did a remarkable job of helping patients through the worst of times with kindness and compassion, with a sense of purpose, and with love.