I wanted to recognize Laura Hernandez WOCN here at RUMC. She always goes above and beyond while at work, and it carries over outside of work. If you don’t know her, everyone loves Laura, she is always making people feel better about themselves, is the well sought out expert, and is great to work with.

On a recent trip to move her daughter into college in Arizona, she went way above and beyond to help. As she was walking into the lobby of the hotel they were staying at, she saw two men on the floor, unsure of what was happening, she approached to see if they could use some help. As she got closer, she could see a lot of blood all over the floor. She asked if she could help, but they were hesitant at first until she said she was a nurse. After quickly assessing the situation, she had the one man apply pressure to the injury to get the bleeding under control, she started delegating tasks, someone called 911, someone called his wife, he was worried about his dog at daycare, and she reassured him that they would take care of that and not to worry.

After obtaining a brief history, meds, allergies etc. she got down on the floor with them. She asked what happened, the injured man stated he works at the hotel and was transporting a printer on a cart that fell off onto his leg. She then discussed that she needed to see the injury, reassuring him he was in good hands with her and the other man as the other hotel employees were handling all the other tasks and to focus on his breathing as removing the other guy’s hand and pressure might be painful. Before removing the dressing, she got more gauze ready and sent someone to get a blood spill kit or towels to cover all the blood. This all had to be done on the lobby floor as they were unable to move him. She had others redirect foot traffic away from the site. Upon removing the dressing, the injured guy said he was dizzy, he was already on the floor, so she had someone grab a pillow from a nearby lobby sofa for him to rest his head, told him to focus on his breathing, at the same time she was making small talk with him to distract him.

Upon dressing removal and a more thorough assessment she noted a huge de gloving accident at this Achilles, with a huge skin flap partially attached. She kept talking to him, as she went through the hotel first aid kit. The other guy looked like he was going to faint, so she had him sit on the floor and focus on his breathing. She let the injured guy know what was going on as she quickly cleansed the area, reattached the skin flap, and covered it with a moist non adherent dressing secured with a light-pressure dressing of Coban. At this time the EMT team arrived, she gave them a report and they took him to the ER.

The injured man called her at the hotel the next day to thank her and tell her that because of what she did they were able to save the skin flap and he got 14 sutures and a walking boot, no fractures, and no surgery. He and the hotel staff were truly grateful she was there calling it at the right place at the right time moment.

Note: This is Laura's 2nd DAISY Award!