Recently we had a patient admitted from the ED. On my daily leadership rounding on patients, I had the opportunity to talk to a pleasant lady. In enquiring about her stay, she revealed that she has never seen such a hard-working crew and that all staff that has taken care of her were excellent. The patient verbalized that she felt very safe in the unit and could not have asked for better people to take care of her. The patient had a great smile and answered all my questions. When I asked her if I could do anything for her at that time, she asked if she could reward the staff.
I thanked all the staff that took care of her and recognized the staff for the excellent care provided to her. I also mentioned to the staff that the patient wanted to recognize the staff and hence have contacted the Office of Development. In the meantime, unbeknownst to any staff, the patient had mentioned to one staff member (Jennifer McCain) about how her belongings are in her car, which is parked in one of the Publix parking lots in Gainesville. The patient was not sure, which Publix parking lot it was. Jennifer McCain asked the patient for the car keys and on one of the days went searching for the car. She searched a few Publix parking lots before finding the car and retrieved important belongings for the patient. The patient had lost consciousness in a Publix parking lot and was brought to the ED by EMS, and so the patient did not know where the car was parked.
The patient did not mention any of this to anyone and did not want anyone to know this. However, a result of all this is that a fund has been created for the nurses in ADTU for education and development.