Patriciais a school nurse and has been working with a little girl whose parents are in Germany and she is temporarily living with her Grandmother and Uncle here in Pitt County. The little girl has asthma, no health insurance, and no social security number. She was sick with a virus prior to the Christmas break from school andPatricia had seen her in the office and referred her for care. When she did this, she learned from the Grandmother that the child had no resources for care, no primary care provider, and no meds for her asthma. After trying a few offices to get the student seen by an MD, she managed to get them an appointment at the Bernstein Clinic. WhenPatricia followed up with the family, however, she learned they could not afford the medications that were prescribed. Patricia contacted the Peds Asthma Program and talked with Theresa Blount. Theresa was able to utilize Peds Asthma indigent funds to purchase the necessary medications for this acute situation and worked with the family to make sure that she was getting the treatment for her asthma and virus that she needed. Theresa also took it a step further and worked with the Bernstein Clinic to get another prescription for her asthma medications, so she will have an emergency albuterol inhaler with her at school in case she needs it. She plans to pick up the prescription and deliver it to school herself.
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Patricia received this email from the family:
"To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can, in spite of all we go through; is to be a nurse.
Nurses disperse comfort, compassion, and caring without a prescription. Thank you for making the breathing of my kid easier, that's why you are an angel of mercy."
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I am so proud of our Community Health Programs and the work that our nurses do! Congrats to Patricia and Theresa!