Stacy Denford
June 2021
Stacy
Denford
,
RN
Medical Daycare Unit
SickKids Hospital
Toronto
,
Ontario
Canada

 

 

 

Stacy was able to recognize the urgency of the situation and access resources to ensure the safe transport of a child who was in a potentially life-threatening situation
Stacy is a dedicated nurse that will go above and beyond for her patients. This was exemplified recently when she identified a child in crisis and was able to take action to get this child the care he needed. In her role on 4C, Stacy is a primary nurse for siblings that require weekly infusions. They are refugees that do not speak nor understand English and are particularly vulnerable due to their precarious socioeconomic status and lack of personal and community resources. The siblings are dependent upon their mother for medication supply and administration, and as their chaperone to the hospital for the weekly treatments. This dynamic was disrupted when the younger sister required hospitalization. Mom was at the hospital with the daughter and the brother was at home in Etobicoke. Stacy had gone to visit the female sibling and the mother during a break in her shift. The mother was able to relay to Stacy that she was very worried about her son: He had run out of his medication several days ago and was now struggling with chest pain at home. Stacy recognized the urgency of the situation and reached out to her resources to seek guidance and assistance. It was quickly identified that the boy's symptoms of chest pain and shortness of breath were serious in the context of his known heart disease and that he needed to be seen urgently in the ED at SickKids. However, this was not easy to make happen. Specifically, the father could not drive and did not have access to transportation; and there were younger siblings at home that required adult supervision. Stacy was able to problem-solve with the mother, with the assistance of an interpreter, to communicate to the father to call 911 for the son. Stacy was able to assist in finding a neighbor that could watch the younger children at home while the father accompanied the son in the ambulance to SickKids. Because of her dedication, compassion, and professionalism, Stacy was able to recognize the urgency of the situation and access resources to ensure the safe transport of a child who was in a potentially life-threatening situation, while securing the safety of the other siblings at home. She recognized the vulnerability of this family and took the necessary initiative and leadership to make a potentially life-threatening situation better. As a result, the boy was admitted and stabilized and was able to be discharged home the following day.