I was a patient in Carle Observation Unit for 3 days. I had excellent care and am happy to say Carle was able to give me help in diagnosing the origin of my UTIs (I've had 12 in the past 18 months).

Karen Blackstock was my day nurse. That morning (in my room), she was receiving report from the night nurse. I could “see” her plan of action for me developing in her mind. I had never been on oxygen before, and when I let her know that she lowered the machine one liter. She was helping me gain independence, and return to my normal breathing of room air. I was also getting assistance with transfers, and I mentioned I thought I could be modified independent. She observed that I could and that was taken care of. She made sure I was a “no fall” risk. I asked her if I could have physical therapy so I could start moving again. She provided the nursing assistance for this task, and I was able to walk the halls with supervision and hold on to the infusion pump pole. Later I was independent of supervision.

I observed the charter traits in Karen: Proactive, compassionate, and perceptive. Since I worked in Occupation Therapy field for 30 years; I observed her with my “therapy eyes”. Her treatment for me paralleled how I might approach a client I was seeing: to restore and rehabilitate. She was proactive and perceptive and it seemed her goal for me was to get me back to my best self. And that is what she helped me do!