On the evening shift, I discovered that my mom's hospital doctor, who took over my mom's care, inadvertently did not include my mom's medication to help her appetite in her discharge meds order. Because of this oversight, my mom did not have a good appetite and ate 25% of her dinner and none of her meals the next day. I asked the skilled nursing facility, and it was not listed in the discharge orders. The nursing facility called Kaiser’s on-call doctor, and since there was no mention in the discharge order, the Kaiser on-call doctor did not feel comfortable starting what appeared to be a new medication for my mom and could not order it.

I drove to Kaiser San Leandro and mentioned this to Gemma Macarenas, and she confirmed that my mom was being given Marinol twice a day before discharge. She understood that if my mom has no appetite, then she will not eat enough nutrition to sustain herself, and then will need to return to the hospital. She called the hospital doctor to help write an order and fax it to the skilled nursing facility. The on-call hospital doctor followed up to order this medication. Gemma Macaranas' compassion, empathy, and actions were way above and beyond. Thank you.