Brenda is a nurse who consistently exceeds expectations through her persistent compassion and genuine concern for her patients. She is kind and considerate to everyone that she meets and demonstrates the core values through her work every day. She respectfully serves with compassion and excellence and always with a smile on her face.
Brenda's position requires that she make outreach calls to patients who have been recently discharged from the facility. She ensures that they have the resources and information that they need to achieve a successful recovery after they leave the hospital. In April, she reached out to a recently discharged patient and discovered that there were several medications that the patient could not afford. She also did not have recently ordered medications that were prescribed to her just before discharge. One of these medications was intended to treat the condition that led to her most recent admission to the hospital. This was a specialty medication that had been mistakenly sent to a retail pharmacy to be filled. Through many phone calls to physicians, pharmacies, the insurance company, and UPS facilities, Brenda ensured the patient received this medication. There were a lot of avenues to explore to obtain orders, prior authorizations, insurance approval, address corrections, and discuss delivery options.
During this time, the patient informed Brenda that she was caring for her husband who was receiving end of life care in the home. He had been enrolled with in-home Hospice care. This patient was experiencing considerable emotional stress and Brenda wanted so much to help her.
After multiple calls to MD, retail pharmacy, specialty pharmacy, UPS, and the patient, Brenda finally had delivery set up for this medication. She contacted the patient the day after the medication was scheduled to arrive and the patient had not received her medication. Brenda contacted UPS and determined that they had the wrong delivery address; she helped them make the correction. It was to be delivered the following day. It was not delivered. Brenda contacted UPS a second time and they said that they had attempted delivery after 10:00 pm and no one answered the door. At this point, Brenda contacted the Medical Assistant at one of the physician's offices hoping to acquire samples. She also contacted the in-house pharmacy and determined that they had the medication in stock. Brenda and the Medical Assistant contributed their own money to cover the cost of that medication and the pharmacist delivered it to the patient's home. It is not unusual for Brenda to give of herself unselfishly. She is a tremendous asset to Mercy Health and our mission. I am proud to call her my friend and my co-worker.
This was a collaboration of efforts put forth by other Mercy Health Associates as well. We should be honored to work with such a great group of colleagues!