As many people know, BH is expanding and psychiatry has made many changes. Toni consistently goes above and beyond to make sure new nurses are precepted appropriately and that those nurses who are not so new understand the changes. She checks in with MAs, nurses, psychiatrists, APPs, and PAR staff, throughout the day. She participates in service recovery when families are distraught. She surprises her co-workers with food. If she does not know the answer to a question, she will find someone who does. She is committed to excellence.
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In February, an 11 year old female left her psychiatry visit because she did not want to engage in the session or answer safety questions. She casually walked out of the clinic. One staff member followed her downstairs where she was sitting near the Lab. Nobody was able to convince her to come back to the clinic and the patient proceeded to leave the building, walking to the garage. Typically patients will just go to the car to wait for the parent/guardian so 2 employees followed her. Another employee had also arrived to assist at about this time. Toni was just arriving for her shift when she met one of the staff and requested her help with the situation. The patient was able to evade the employees by squeezing through a hole in the wall on the lower level. She was found on the other side of a ledge on the 7th floor stairwell. The patient refused to come from the ledge and continued to climb up/down the railing. CPD and CFD arrived at about this time as well. One of the staff told Toni that the patient said she liked animals so Toni retrieved a stuffed animal from her car, negotiating with the patient that she would walk with her if she brought her the blue dog. During this communication and once she was in close enough proximity, Toni was able to get a hold of the patient at which time the additional staff members assisted in pulling her over the banister to safety.