I am honored to highlight Michaela Koran, in conjunction with my social worker, Kayla Bailey, and the T2 IMCU staff, on the day and night shift on this date.

Michaela has carried the clinical portion of the VAD program for several months, as she is the only VAD coordinator while we hire and onboard others. She is constantly on call, expertly managing family and patient clinical issues around the clock with empathy and warm professionalism.

On top of that, on this date, Michaela and Kayla came in on their day off to graciously assist and support as one of our long-term patients was, unfortunately, transferred to comfort care. Michaela was the one to physically have to turn the VAD off, ceasing the support the patient’s heart had been receiving, which ultimately led to his death.

The entire T2 team, including Michaela and Kayla, worked to make our patient’s last hours memorable, peaceful, and comfortable by taking him outside and being by his side when he was scared to be alone. Again, for my direct employees, this was all voluntary time on their days off, demonstrating an unparalleled commitment to our patients in their final hours.

The patient was transferred out of the unit after having his VAD turned off. He arrived right before the change of shift. I got to the floor, and he was surrounded by T2 staff. I can’t remember who, but someone asked the patient if he wanted to go outside. We obtained permission from the supervisor, and I, Kayla, Michaela, Sara W., Sarah S., Brittany, Zoey, Fatima, and Eileen pushed his bed out to the ambulance bay. It was gorgeous outside. He got to feel the sun on his face and a cool breeze. We stayed outside for about 20 minutes.

His night shift nurse was Krysta. Kayla expressed that the patient stated that he did not want to die alone. His family was not with him, so we tried to make sure that he was never left alone. Kayla was in on her day off and stayed with him until 0230, when she had to leave to take care of her young children because her husband had to go to work.

Krysta did a great job advocating for him for better pain/symptom management. She gave him a complete bed bath and made sure he was comfortable. We then found out that the patient had returned to his Catholic faith towards the end and wanted to be anointed and receive the last rites. Sarah S. reached out to the on-call chaplain, who, unfortunately, was unable to reach a priest. I immediately thought of Rebecca S., who I know is very involved in her Catholic parish. Rebecca was able to get in contact with a priest, and he came in and prayed over the patient and gave him his last rites.

The patient hung on for hours longer than anyone expected. The small gestures of bringing the patient outside, going above and beyond to make sure he received his last rites, and sitting at his bedside for hours holding his hand were amazing to see. It solidified the fact that we have the best team on T2 who will do anything to provide the best care for our patients. Everyone was checking in on each other, giving hugs, and comforting each other as well.

This truly was amazing to see and just another example of how well T2 epitomizes working as one.