Caregivers stepped in recently to help rescue a patient’s treasured family heirloom from the landfill. The patient’s bag of belongings was mistakenly thrown away following a surgery, and the bag contained a necklace from the patient’s deceased sister.
Unfortunately, environmental services (EVS) caregivers had already placed the bag in the trash compactor before the patient realized the necklace had been left behind. Although the necklace had little monetary value, it had sentimental value to the patient. It had been a gift from the patient’s sister 32 years ago, who has since passed away.
The patient contacted April Keetch, RN, from Endoscopy at Park City Hospital to see if there was any way we may have found the necklace. April spoked to Alex Storey, Park City Hospital EVS manager, who called Intermountain’s Waste Management team to see if there was any chance they could go to the landfill and try to retrieve the bag from the trash compactor.
“We knew it had been in the last five to 10 hours, so I had a good idea of where in the compactor it could possibly be,” says Steffani LeVels, system waste stream program manager. “With approval from Safety, we coordinated with our waste hauler, Republic Services, and the Summit County Landfill to meet and look for the patient’s belongings bag.”
Steffani went to the snow-covered landfill on a cold day with waste stream coordinators Heidi Hilgendorf and Mercedes Anto, as well as Rylie Simpson from Republic Services and Boyd from the landfill staff, to sift through the mounds of trash in search of the lost bag. At first, they weren’t having much luck.
“So I looked up to the beautiful blue sky and shouted something along the lines of, ‘Patient sister angel in the sky, we need your help finding this necklace,’” Steffani says. “I swear it wasn’t two minutes later that Boyd threw a bag to Heidi with a patient belongings bag inside and she pulled out a cross necklace on string. This, my friends, is how you ‘garbage whisper’ finding a cross necklace in a sea of trash.”
The patient returned to Park City Hospital after receiving the call that the necklace had been found. Alex says the patient was near tears when April handed over the special item and gave her a big hug. The patient thanked everyone involved for helping to find it.
“This is just one example of incredible teamwork to meet the needs of our patients,” says Lori Weston, Park City Hospital administrator.