This past week Sue came in, on her day off, to provide for a sexual assault examination of a 15-year-old victim. The key elements of this event are: Sue was not only off this day, but it also happened that Sue was attending to one of her family members who was recovering from a surgery that same day. When I called Sue, she made arrangements for someone to help her family member after she took them home so she could respond to this victim.
The victim was actually seen in another ED the night before and they were unable to provide this exam for her due to her age. They gave her the telephone number to another agency to do the sexual assault exam and discharged her home. When the victim and her parents contacted them, that agency was also unable to provide this exam for another 12-24 hours. At that point, the family called us at the TC ED to help. I called Sue and explained the situation and without hesitation, Sue responded.
Sue is a great example of our core values in action and these core values have been a cornerstone of her nursing practice for us here at St Mary's of Michigan. I have worked with Sue for my entire career (20 or more years here) this is really not unique behavior for Sue, however, I was truly humbled by her demonstration of both professionalism and selflessness. She is a true blessing to our hospital and our community. Imagine if we all could treat the people around us with such compassion and kindness as to put their needs before our own.