While Jan has always gone above and beyond for our patients, today was different. While the hospital was condition red, with 2 patients waiting for an open bed in ICU, we had one heart failure patient on the board to discharge. Dr. A wanted to make sure the patient was set up with cardiac rehab. Of course, cardiac rehab doesn’t usually see inpatients until the afternoon. I called down to their outpatient department so they could make sure the patient was on their radar for outpatient care and they could set things up in the next few days.

When I explained this to Jan, she didn’t hesitate to get her supervisor to cover the outpatients for a bit to come to see this 38-year-old CHF patient face to face. She met with him and his wife, easing so many of their fears and worries. She did her full assessment, walk, and made a plan with them for home. She mentioned that with his CHF he couldn’t start cardiac rehab for 6 weeks, but she would call them tomorrow and every Wednesday thereafter to check in with him, his weight, symptoms, and all their questions until he could officially start rehab.

While we were walking the patient out, we asked him and his wife if they had any concerns/questions about discharging. The patient said, “Every time I come to the hospital, I am sicker and don’t know if I’m gonna make it home to see my 1, 4, and 7-year-old again. But now I have a “Jan” in my back pocket, and I feel much better about leaving and getting stronger and not being back here next week.” His wife added “Everyone needs a Jan.” And our ICU staff couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Jan.