Stories from Our Nurses

Nurses Week 2013: Telling Our Stories of Care

In honor of National Nurses Week 2013, Montefiore's nurses performed stories they created through workshops with The Moth, a renowned storytelling organization in NYC. The theme of this year's Nurses Week at Montefiore is "Telling Our Stories of Care"  offered associates the opportunity to hear nurse' authentic, moving stories filled with emotion and really intense moments.  Thanks to the following nurses for their participation in this pivotal event:

The program was made possible through the generosity of The Moth. Montefiore extends a special thank you to: Larry Rosen (Director, MothSHOP Community Education Program); Peter Aguero (Instructor, The Moth); and Christine Gentry, Jessica Gross, Ken Monahan and Jonny Schremmer (Story Coaches)

More Than 300 Attend Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Reunion

Nearly 600 babies are treated in the Montefiore Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) each year. The NICU held a celebration for the healthy outcomes of young children once treated at Montefiore as infants.

More than 300 families and former NICU patients joined the health professionals of The Children's Hospital at Montefiore neonatology program who treated them.

(Left to right): NICU nurses Carmen Welborn, RN; Adina Gross, RN; and Sheri Nemerofsky, MD, celebrate with NICU moms and children.

Extremely Rare Heart-Liver Double Transplant Surgery

Patient Juan Farias, 22, was released from Montefiore after a successful heart-liver double transplant.

Farias, who developed severe heart disease in his 20s, was born with a rare genetic enzyme deficiency in his liver, which accelerated his heart condition and caused heart failure. Prior to the double-transplant procedure, gene therapy was used for treatment, but it proved unsuccessful, making a heart transplant necessary. Transplant teams determined that a liver transplant was also required, given that the patient's rare enzyme disorder would inevitably destroy the new heart if left untreated.

Members of the nursing team who cared for heart-liver transplant patient Juan Farias include (left to right): Bimla Singh, RN; Beverley Clarke, RN, Administrative Nurse Manager; Suzanne Martz, RN, Administrative Nurse Manager; and Nicole Golden, RN.

Saving the Day In-Flight

Although Joanne Shaw, RN, fields patient complaints as an associate administrator in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women's Health, she recently had the opportunity to tap into her nursing instincts.

During a recent flight to Florida, an 84-year-old woman seated in the row ahead of Shaw suffered a seizure and required immediate assistance. "It was instinctive to help," said Joanne, who has more than 44 years of nursing experience.

She asked the flight attendants for a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. The woman's blood pressure was low, so Shaw laid her across three seats, gave her juice and stayed with her for the duration of the flight, frequently checking her vital signs.

"The nurse part of you never really leaves," Joanne said. "You want to care for people when they are in distress." When the plane landed, emergency medical systems (EMS) crews took the woman to a hospital, where she recovered.

The woman's husband and daughter-in-law were so grateful that they searched for Joanne, knowing only that she worked at Montefiore. After many failed Google searches, they contacted Customer Services Director Leslie Bank, who helped locate Joanne. The family expressed their gratitude by sending her flowers.

"She did an amazing thing, and I have tears in my eyes just thinking about how nice and decent she was," said the woman's daughter-in-law, Susan Watson.

RA Bedside Forum for Listening

Inpatients at Montefiore benefit from the varied perspectives of multidisciplinary teams who make rounds. At Weiler 9S, interdisciplinary daily team (IDT) rounds are unique because the activity includes walking rounds and team reviews of patient care plans that take place in a conference room.

"IDT is about three salient points for coordinating patient care," said Theresa Terilli, RN, Clinical Faculty in the Division of Education and Organizational Development. "We first determine if the patient is in an appropriate acute care setting. Then, we identify if there is a plan of care for the patient's continued stay and safe discharge from the hospital. This plan should be approved by the patient and by his or her family."

At the Weiler Division, a nurse manager, care management coordinator, social worker, home care specialist, and a hospitalist or other physician visit patients every morning. "Patients know the faces of those who are actively involved in their care and may find it easier to express themselves in this forum, rather than speaking to an individual nurse," said Josetta Cole, RN, Care Management Coordinator.

"Sometimes there could be a simple reason why a patient isn't going home in a timely fashion," said Alleyne Hall, RN, Administrative Nurse Manager for the Weiler Medical-Surgical Unit. "We probe for answers and sometimes find that the patient is staying for an additional procedure that doesn't require an overnight stay, or the patient just needs instructions on how to care for a wound or to take his or her medications at home."

During rounds, Hall mentors and counsels her staff to resolve logistical and medical problems. According to Cole, she often views rounds as a teaching arena in which the staff have an opportunity to learn from one another.