A patient presented in the Immediate Care with a large abscess and a history of necrotizing fasciitis. After her initial assessment, Courtney Harrington, Nurse Practitioner, ordered a CT and told the patient she would need to be seen in the ED due to the nature of her case and history. However, the patient was resistant due to losing her father at the hospital for a similar diagnosis, and said, “I will just go home and die,” and later argued that she would go upstairs to see her surgeon at APP and leave the IC.

Instead of getting offended by the patient’s responses, Courtney showed compassion and followed up with APP to check on the patient, but as Courtney suspected, the patient did not go upstairs as she said she would. Courtney then asked another provider and another IC staff member to go with her to see if the patient was still on our campus. Courtney found the patient sitting in the parking lot and finally talked them into coming with her to imaging, where she facilitated their being seen right away. Courtney not only went the extra mile in providing for this patient, but she may also have very well prevented the patient from having a mental health crisis or worse. We have a fantastic group of providers. Courtney’s compassion for our community is exemplary. What a pleasure it is to work with such dedicated providers like Courtney Harrington.