A blind patient at McKay-Dee Hospital who couldn’t speak English got the help she needed to feel safe while having heart surgery during the pandemic, and her daughter received a place to stay nearby, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of a compassionate nurse.
Ann Head, RN, focused in on how to best care for the unique needs of this patient who was preparing for surgery and dealing with visitor restrictions that wouldn’t let her daughter be onsite as her support person.
“At the time our patients weren’t allowed to have any visitors,” says Ann, who works in the operating room as a liaison between the patient, family, and medical team. “I really felt for this patient. She was unable to speak English, from outside the country, completely blind, and here she is needing major surgery during a pandemic.”
“At the time our patients weren’t allowed to have any visitors,” says Ann, who works in the operating room as a liaison between the patient, family, and medical team. “I really felt for this patient. She was unable to speak English, from outside the country, completely blind, and here she is needing major surgery during a pandemic.”
Ann Head, RN
Ann says she only had a few minutes with the patient in pre-op, but she could see the fear in the woman’s eyes. “Fortunately, the daughter had received an exception to be in the room while I explained how things would go in surgery,” Ann says.
“I kept having this memory as I talked with them and saw how scared they were. I recalled when I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Ecuador where I was also a nurse. We had a family of a missionary from the U.S. get into a car accident and I watched them go through something similar where they didn’t speak the language and had to work through the healthcare system. I thought of them and imagined how much harder it would’ve been being blind and in a pandemic.
“I realized at that point I wanted to have the daughter communicate directly with her mother in the OR while she was being prepped for her surgery. I spoke with my coworker, Robby Crawford, RN, and we decided to call the daughter and put her on speaker so she could explain to her mother step by step what was going on until she went to sleep.”
Ann says she later found out from Rafe Connors, MD, that the daughter had received permission to be with her mother throughout the hospital stay. “He heard me fighting her case and let me know they’d been given approval to be together,” she says.
Next Ann found out the daughter didn’t have anywhere to stay while her mother recovered. “She lived a few hours away and was planning to sleep in her car so she could care for her mother,” Ann says.
Ann immediately talked to the house supervisor, Lei Lani Gauchat, RN, who helped the daughter get a room in the Annie Taylor Dee Guest Home on the McKay-Dee campus.
“The daughter was so grateful to be in a nice place and near her mom while she recovered,” says Ann. “If I hadn’t gotten to know them and cared about them as people I wouldn’t have known this was a need.
“I feel like with COVID-19, we have to remember that human factor. We’re protecting ourselves and protecting patients, but it can be a cold environment for someone who’s here in the hospital. I think with everything that’s happening all of our patients are feeling overwhelmed and scared.”
She adds, “Everything about COVID-19 is harder, but we can stop and remind people that we care. It’s important to set people at ease and let them know you’ll really take care of them. I usually tell my patients: This is something we do every day, and as a team we’ll take good care of you.”
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“I kept having this memory as I talked with them and saw how scared they were. I recalled when I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Ecuador where I was also a nurse. We had a family of a missionary from the U.S. get into a car accident and I watched them go through something similar where they didn’t speak the language and had to work through the healthcare system. I thought of them and imagined how much harder it would’ve been being blind and in a pandemic.
“I realized at that point I wanted to have the daughter communicate directly with her mother in the OR while she was being prepped for her surgery. I spoke with my coworker, Robby Crawford, RN, and we decided to call the daughter and put her on speaker so she could explain to her mother step by step what was going on until she went to sleep.”
Ann says she later found out from Rafe Connors, MD, that the daughter had received permission to be with her mother throughout the hospital stay. “He heard me fighting her case and let me know they’d been given approval to be together,” she says.
Next Ann found out the daughter didn’t have anywhere to stay while her mother recovered. “She lived a few hours away and was planning to sleep in her car so she could care for her mother,” Ann says.
Ann immediately talked to the house supervisor, Lei Lani Gauchat, RN, who helped the daughter get a room in the Annie Taylor Dee Guest Home on the McKay-Dee campus.
“The daughter was so grateful to be in a nice place and near her mom while she recovered,” says Ann. “If I hadn’t gotten to know them and cared about them as people I wouldn’t have known this was a need.
“I feel like with COVID-19, we have to remember that human factor. We’re protecting ourselves and protecting patients, but it can be a cold environment for someone who’s here in the hospital. I think with everything that’s happening all of our patients are feeling overwhelmed and scared.”
She adds, “Everything about COVID-19 is harder, but we can stop and remind people that we care. It’s important to set people at ease and let them know you’ll really take care of them. I usually tell my patients: This is something we do every day, and as a team we’ll take good care of you.”
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