Carly Hoskins, a patient care technician, is known for making patients feel welcome in the med-surg unit at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Southwest Fort Worth. So it’s no surprise that Carly went out of her way to help a patient who had difficulty communicating.
It took a lot of time to talk to the patient, who was born with cerebral palsy and later became quadriplegic, but that didn’t dissuade Carly.
“You had to ask her to repeat a lot to find out what she needed,” said Carly, June’s Promise Maker of the Month. “But I really enjoyed taking care of her.”
Time well spent
Carly spent a lot of time talking with the patient, helping her with meals and listening to her concerns.
She also treated the woman to a “spa experience,” her nomination said.
“Carly gave her a complete hair wash and blow dry, and other little things to make her feel loved,” it said.
The woman also shared that she was an avid horseback rider before being paralyzed in an accident, that she loved red roses and that she was a mother and grandmother.
With Mother’s Day the next day, Carly was inspired.
“While I was doing last-minute shopping for my own mom, I picked up some red roses for the patient and brought them in to her Monday morning,” Carly said. “She said I had made her day.”
Warm welcome
Nurses on the unit told their manager what Carly had done, and said it wasn’t unusual for the aspiring nurse in her last year of nursing school.
“She preps the rooms before patients arrive, making them so welcoming that it’s almost like going to a nice hotel,” the nomination said. “We can walk down the hall and if there is an empty room, we can tell that Carly has spread her magic by the little things that make the room look patient-ready.”
Carly, who hopes to become an operating room nurse, said the Promise Maker award came as a surprise.
“It was kind of surreal,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it, and I didn’t feel like I deserved it because I was just doing my job. But I really appreciated it, and it encouraged me to continue doing things like that for my patients.”
Carly’s story is a great example of Our Texas Health PromiseSM, said Gretchen Hunt, M.S.N., R.N., ACNS-BC, NEA-BC, chief nursing officer at Texas Health Southwest.
“By taking time to slow down, listen and encourage the patient, Carly was able to empower the patient in her care and decision-making,” Gretchen said. “And with her ‘spa day,’ she created a personal and memorable experience.”
By Robin P. Loveman • Posted July 9, 2019
