In addition to her own duties, Ms. Hester assists daily with the triage of patients to increase patient satisfaction with wait times with her PACT clinic. She is regularly confronted with ethical issues that have arisen on her unit; one example is: a 90-year-old Veteran with a 70-year-old caregiver who needed a wound care specialist for his leg wound but had not been brought in due to lack of transportation. Ms. Hester contacted MSW and helped arrange special transportation for this Veteran. This resulted in more timely care for this Veteran, and decreased the potential for infection.
Ms. Hester also makes communicating with caregivers a priority thus helping them better care for the Veteran as evidenced by advising a caregiver of the advantages associated with hospice care for a Veteran with stage IV lung cancer and contacting palliative care on their behalf which resulted in better comfort care for this Veteran and alleviated some of the stress of the caregiver. This also allowed this Veteran to continue to be cared for at home as opposed to being placed in a nursing home for end of life care. The Veteran, and later his family, expressed their appreciation and gratitude to be able to spend his last days surrounded by family and loved ones.
Ms. Hester was instrumental in getting a Veteran care that had missed a new physical therapy appointment due to being hospitalized at UH for surgery during a scheduled visit. The Veteran was then rescheduled on new patient list and did not have a new appointment for several months. Ms. Hester felt it her ethical duty to expedite this Veteran's care and phoned other Veterans and moved appointments around to accommodate this Veteran who ended up having a lung malignancy. Her actions resulted in earlier diagnosis and treatment for this Veteran. Per the American Lung Association, patients have improved outcomes and odds for survival of lung cancer when cancer is detected early.
Ms. Hester also encountered an ethical issue with an elderly veteran and his wife. The veteran reports he was getting to the point of no longer being able to get into his house or in and out of the bathtub. The veteran's wife voiced that due to her own health issues she was afraid that she might have to consider putting the veteran into a home because she would not be able to assist him with these needs. Ms. Hester consulted with the social worker and researched some VA options for the family. She learned that the veteran could apply for a HISA grant which would help with restructuring the veterans home to make it more accessible for him. The veteran was able to get a wheelchair ramp and a walk-in shower placed in his home. Ms. Hester's actions were essential in keeping the veteran at home with his family for as long as possible. Ms. Hester also then shared the knowledge and information she learned about HISA grants for veterans with her co-workers.