August 2021
Perla
Lohr
,
RN, ADN
Memorial Central Mother/Baby Unit
UCHealth Memorial Hospital
Colorado Springs
,
CO
United States
Without Perla’s rapid action my wife might not be here today.
Perla saved my wife’s life. My wife delivered our daughter by C-section. Initially she was doing very well and we were transferred to the mom-baby unit. Things started to go badly soon after that. It turned out my wife was having a post-partum hemorrhage but because the bleeding was in her abdomen and not out of her vagina it was harder to diagnose. Perla was amazing. When my wife dropped her blood pressure, Perla was a whirlwind getting fluid boluses and blood transfusions going, communicating with the doctors and making sure every angle was covered. She advocated strongly for my wife to go to the ICU which she absolutely needed. My wife ended up needing another operation and was in the ICU for another day with a breathing tube. Without Perla’s rapid action my wife might not be here today. After our ICU stay we came back to mom baby. This time Perla had a chance to show her compassionate side in a less hectic situation. She was attentive to my wife and daughter’s needs. She worked to bundle care to limit interruptions and let our exhausted family sleep. She came in and helped with a feeding to let my wife and I get a little more sleep since she knew what we had been through. She even brought in yarn so one of the techs could crochet our daughter a special hat. In an emergency, you want a no-nonsense nurse who will take charge and get things done. When things are calm you want a compassionate nurse who will put your needs first and go the extra mile to help with little things to aid in your recovery. We were incredibly lucky because we got both kinds of nurses when we got Perla.