Kaileigh Sheffer
May 2021
Kaileigh
Scheffer
,
RN
Mental Health
St. Mary's Healthcare
Amsterdam
,
NY
United States

 

 

 

In Kaileigh's spare time, she collected donations and bought presents for multiple families' children in order to help reduce some of the financial burdens the holidays can cause on individuals.
In Outpatient Mental Health no one holds just one role. Kaileigh Sheffer is someone that helps support and assist every aspect of the Mental Health Adult Clinic as well as a pillar within every client served. Kaileigh’s role at the clinic is to manage the mental health nursing needs of the members of the clinic. Oftentimes this is a large umbrella. She has assisted members with connecting with PCPs, explaining what their medications are, as well as providing another encouraging voice for the individuals as they work towards their goals. Kaileigh often spearheads the additional services through the clinic. This often includes going above and beyond what it means to just be a nurse.

Kaileigh has led the initiative to have families of the clinic provide a Christmas celebration that would not be possible without the MHAC. In her spare time, she collected donations and bought presents for multiple families' children in order to help reduce some of the financial burdens the holidays can cause on individuals. During the pandemic, Kaileigh’s support of our clients only grew. She assisted in food deliveries to members of the community that were unable to leave their homes. She also assisted in clients obtaining their prescriptions. The long-lasting support Kaileigh has been able to provide to our clients and community is never-ending. The last example that I would like to share shows just how much Kaileigh cares about our clients.

There is an individual that receives an injection. He often experiences a variety of apprehensions and paranoia surrounding interactions with others. He was scheduled to receive an injection on Kaileigh’s day off. Knowing what distress this would cause him, Kaileigh ensured her ability to come into work in order to provide him the injection without any additional distress. Many of our team members are currently working remotely. Due to this, Kaileigh saw the need to help increase the support in our clinic’s front office.

In addition to picking up extra nursing responsibilities when we lost a member of the nursing team, Kaileigh quickly started to assist in any of the behind-the-scenes needs of the clinic. This includes answering phones, sending faxes, and completion of the necessary documentation. The clinic would not have been able to run as smoothly with most of the members remote without Kaileigh providing direct needs. Most of the time Kaileigh addresses concerns prior to them even becoming aware of by the clinical team. If you ask any of her clients or our coworkers I am sure that there are even more examples than the few I provided here. Kaileigh genuinely cares and roots for the members of the community to reach their dreams and overcome any barriers they face.