Monica Southworth
January 2022
Monica
Southworth
,
RN
Emergency Department
Centennial Hills Hospital
Las Vegas
,
NV
United States
He was extremely upset about this, and Monica instantly became a woman on a mission to make him smile and be happy on his birthday.
Monica is one of our Mental Health Nurses here in the ER. Monica has never been one to settle for just “getting the job done”. She has ALWAYS been the biggest patient advocate you can imagine and goes above and beyond daily. Now, we talk so much about going “above and beyond”, but let me tell you why we call her #1. Whether it is ordering pizza for her pediatric patient and her mother since mom cannot leave or it’s coming in on her day off to sit with a very scared patient (for 6 hours mind you) until his parents drove in from out of state to pick him up. Monica has the biggest heart and deserves this recognition.
She has done many other things, but today one really stuck with me. We have a patient who was placed on an L2K by Metro. The patient came in and was very upset because he did not understand why he was there. Upon talking with the patient, Monica learned about his home life. The patient was married to a younger woman with 5 children who was very much taking advantage of him. The patient poured his heart and soul into everything in life and you can tell when you speak with him. Well, today is his birthday. He received a phone call from his wife, and she informed him that they are going to get a divorce. He was extremely upset about this, and Monica instantly became a woman on a mission to make him smile and be happy on his birthday. Monica went down to the gift shop to buy him balloons, slippers, and a very cute singing teddy bear. I walked back to the Pod with Monica and she presented him with the gift as we sang Happy Birthday to him. The big smile on his face and the tears in his eyes said it all. Instantly his day was made and he was so thankful!
We always get caught up in our own issues that we forget that our patients need us too. Someone to talk to. Someone to advocate for them when they cannot. Someone to hug when they are having a crappy day. A simple act of kindness can go a long way and Monica is always the first to do it. I am so thankful that our ER has a nurse like her to put all feelings aside and push repeatedly for what is right for our psychiatric patients. We love you #1.
She has done many other things, but today one really stuck with me. We have a patient who was placed on an L2K by Metro. The patient came in and was very upset because he did not understand why he was there. Upon talking with the patient, Monica learned about his home life. The patient was married to a younger woman with 5 children who was very much taking advantage of him. The patient poured his heart and soul into everything in life and you can tell when you speak with him. Well, today is his birthday. He received a phone call from his wife, and she informed him that they are going to get a divorce. He was extremely upset about this, and Monica instantly became a woman on a mission to make him smile and be happy on his birthday. Monica went down to the gift shop to buy him balloons, slippers, and a very cute singing teddy bear. I walked back to the Pod with Monica and she presented him with the gift as we sang Happy Birthday to him. The big smile on his face and the tears in his eyes said it all. Instantly his day was made and he was so thankful!
We always get caught up in our own issues that we forget that our patients need us too. Someone to talk to. Someone to advocate for them when they cannot. Someone to hug when they are having a crappy day. A simple act of kindness can go a long way and Monica is always the first to do it. I am so thankful that our ER has a nurse like her to put all feelings aside and push repeatedly for what is right for our psychiatric patients. We love you #1.