Elizabeth Rupprecht joined the Forensic Nurse Examiner Team in 2009 and has been a nurse since 1999. She has worked in labor and delivery, ortho/neuro, mother baby, and now as an in-house Forensic Nurse Examiner at Memorial. Throughout her career, Elizabeth has been acknowledged by staff, management and her patients as very “caring, compassionate, thorough, organized, and fun to work with.” For the past two years, Elizabeth has willingly put in long days and nights caring for victims of violence in the Emergency Department. With calm and accuracy, she offers patients who have experienced sexual assault, child abuse, intimate partner violence, strangulation and elder abuse the best care available. Her patients love her as does the staff. She works well and cooperatively with our community partners to include Colorado Springs Police Department, El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s office, TESSA, Safe Passage and others. In addition to her clinical expertise, Elizabeth testifies as an expert witness in the court of law, frequently provides community education at local high schools and community health fairs, and lends her expertise to teach new nurses to be Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners.
Although there are many patient care situations where Elizabeth meets the
TRUSTED model of care, there is one in particular that comes to mind. During one of her shifts in the Emergency Department, Elizabeth took care of a young Spanish-speaking girl who presented with her father
reporting she fell on a toilet plunger. Elizabeth expertly provided care and collection of evidence for this young girl. She worked cooperatively and quickly to involve interpreter services, the ED physician, the OB/GYN on call, the OR team, law enforcement and the girl’s family. She also had to deal with the very difficult task of interacting appropriately with the father of the young girl who was later determined to be the perpetrator. Elizabeth worked hard to make sure that no details were missed. She treated both the patient and her family with dignity and respect. Her care for this young girl speaks to her dedication and devotion for the work and our community.
Elizabeth is a shining example to us all of a commitment to excellent, compassionate patient care and advocacy for our patients beyond the hospital walls and into our community. Please consider her for the DAISY award as she is very deserving.