Pauline Winters
October 2018
Pauline
Winters
,
RN
Ambulatory Care
NYC Health + Hospitals - Kings County
Brooklyn
,
NY
United States

 

 

 

I would like to share my story about my special nurse, Ms. Winters. I was diagnosed with diabetes in October 2017 so my doctor referred me to join the diabetes clinic here. I made an appointment with Ms. Winters, whom I had met before. One day she called me to see my level. I told her what it was which was very high. Ms. Winters made sure she called me every other day to see how I was doing. One day I was on my way to work on the bus when I started to feel dizzy. A good friend was there and I told her what was happening to me. She helped me off the bus, had me sit down, and got me a cup of tea. I was getting weak so I told my friend I wanted to go to Kings County Hospital and she found a cab for me. On the way, I called Ms. Winters and told her how I was feeling, but my words weren't coming out clearly. Ms. Winters asked the cab driver to bring me to the hospital, but he didn't speak English. She then asked me to get out of the cab and she would send an ambulance. If it was not for her, I wouldn't be alive today.
***
I stepped in Ms. Winters's office and overheard her talking to a person in a slightly raised tone of voice. "Look around, look around. Give me the name of the cross street." Ms. Winters asked the person four times. With urgency, she asked me to look up an address, which I did. Ms. Winters then called 911 and, as EMS rushed to the scene, she gave them a bit of history on the person. She was a patient who was dropped by a taxi on the roadside and was incoherent. As the EMS reported, the patient had a finger stick of 34 and her mental status was compromised. She couldn't recognize her surroundings. What amazed me was that the first person the patient called when she realized her mental capability was Ms. Winters. I think that speaks volumes. The patient was taken to Kings County and Ms. Winters immediately went to the ED to check on her. I commend Ms. Winters for the awesome dedication she showed her patient. Without her quick thinking and intervention, who knows what the outcome would have been.