Heather Rivera
July 2019
Heather
Rivera
,
BSN, RN
Nursing Resource Team
WellSpan York Hospital
York
,
PA
United States
I have always known Heather to be a juggernaut for the Shared Decision-Making Council here. She was someone that I admired as a leader among the bedside staff to make sure our voices were heard in various hospital-wide councils. When she came to the Nursing Resource Team, I had the opportunity to precept her on what makes our unit unique. I immediately became impressed by her clinical knowledge, ability to learn quickly, and above all the connection she made with patients. The following story is just one of the times orienting Heather that impressed me, and I knew it had to be shared.
On Tower 1, one of Heather's patients was deaf and was admitted for complications related to current alcohol abuse. As you can imagine, this can impede communication, but through the help of an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter, the patient was able to understand. Heather kept the patient very up to date with her plan of care and answered all her questions. She worked closely with the lead ASL interpreter here at WellSpan and spoke to her frequently throughout the day concerning updates about the patient so that her care was well coordinated.
Heather came to learn that the patient's husband passed recently. The patient communicated with Heather that she would go to church to help with her grief, but no one there signed and so she would sit in the pews feeling isolated with no feeling of solace. This was the same with grief groups. Her isolation and inability to communicate with the outside world created feelings of isolation and depression causing her to drink. This confession showed a grand amount of trust in Heather.
Toward the end of the day, Tower 1 was closing. I notified that patient that she would be moving upstairs. As Heather walked her to the stretcher preparing for transport, the woman laid down and raised her hands to her face and made a crying gesture but held her hand and mouthed thank you. She was sad that Heather would no longer care for her. That gesture said more than words ever could. We are lucky at WellSpan at have such an amazing, caring individual be at the bedside giving 110% every day.
On Tower 1, one of Heather's patients was deaf and was admitted for complications related to current alcohol abuse. As you can imagine, this can impede communication, but through the help of an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter, the patient was able to understand. Heather kept the patient very up to date with her plan of care and answered all her questions. She worked closely with the lead ASL interpreter here at WellSpan and spoke to her frequently throughout the day concerning updates about the patient so that her care was well coordinated.
Heather came to learn that the patient's husband passed recently. The patient communicated with Heather that she would go to church to help with her grief, but no one there signed and so she would sit in the pews feeling isolated with no feeling of solace. This was the same with grief groups. Her isolation and inability to communicate with the outside world created feelings of isolation and depression causing her to drink. This confession showed a grand amount of trust in Heather.
Toward the end of the day, Tower 1 was closing. I notified that patient that she would be moving upstairs. As Heather walked her to the stretcher preparing for transport, the woman laid down and raised her hands to her face and made a crying gesture but held her hand and mouthed thank you. She was sad that Heather would no longer care for her. That gesture said more than words ever could. We are lucky at WellSpan at have such an amazing, caring individual be at the bedside giving 110% every day.