May 2021
Helen
Burns
,
PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN
Administration
Independence Health
Greensburg
,
PA
United States
It was clear she was speaking to me from a place of empathy and understanding, and a personal interest in my health and well-being.
The son of a patient wrote:
As a nurse, I am often the individual helping patients and families understand the prospects of hospitalization. I rarely, if ever, thought about the likelihood that one day I would be that family member, navigating the healthcare system, feeling anxious, afraid, and helpless to intervene. During the midst of the pandemic, my mother was a patient in a hospital that is not a part of the health system where I am employed. Visitation was not permitted, and connecting with care team members via phone was difficult. I often found the person on the other end of the phone to be cold and compassionless as I struggled to learn of my mother's status and plans of care.
After many long and frustrating days, this honoree made contact with her nursing leader's peer and arranged for me to be granted an hour-long visit. I had to leave work immediately to travel the 90 minutes to get to the hospital in time for my long-awaited visit. I cannot thank this honoree enough for facilitating this visit. But more than her intervention with her peers in another health system, it is what came after that that reinforces why I am proud to work at my organization, and why I know we have an exemplary nurse leader in this honoree.
No matter her degree, position, or title, she was and is first and forever a nurse. She is a person, just like me, with loved ones of her own who have faced their own health challenges, and she likewise benefited from the show of support and empathy from caregivers and coworkers alike. It was clear she was speaking to me from a place of empathy and understanding, and a personal interest in my health and well-being. I have profound appreciation for this amazing professional and what she continues to do on behalf of the nursing profession.
As a nurse, I am often the individual helping patients and families understand the prospects of hospitalization. I rarely, if ever, thought about the likelihood that one day I would be that family member, navigating the healthcare system, feeling anxious, afraid, and helpless to intervene. During the midst of the pandemic, my mother was a patient in a hospital that is not a part of the health system where I am employed. Visitation was not permitted, and connecting with care team members via phone was difficult. I often found the person on the other end of the phone to be cold and compassionless as I struggled to learn of my mother's status and plans of care.
After many long and frustrating days, this honoree made contact with her nursing leader's peer and arranged for me to be granted an hour-long visit. I had to leave work immediately to travel the 90 minutes to get to the hospital in time for my long-awaited visit. I cannot thank this honoree enough for facilitating this visit. But more than her intervention with her peers in another health system, it is what came after that that reinforces why I am proud to work at my organization, and why I know we have an exemplary nurse leader in this honoree.
No matter her degree, position, or title, she was and is first and forever a nurse. She is a person, just like me, with loved ones of her own who have faced their own health challenges, and she likewise benefited from the show of support and empathy from caregivers and coworkers alike. It was clear she was speaking to me from a place of empathy and understanding, and a personal interest in my health and well-being. I have profound appreciation for this amazing professional and what she continues to do on behalf of the nursing profession.