November 2024 VUH Healthcare Heroes
-
Nurse of the Quarter: Mike Solis, RN – Transitional Care Unit From Mike’s nomination: Mike went above and beyond in helping a quadriplegic patient get discharged. This was a particularly difficult discharge as the patient did not want to leave. This patient was being seen by pain and internal medicine and having been medically cleared and discharged from both services, the patient was not happy with his care. Mike contacted both services and advocated for the patient's needs. Both services came and spoke with the patient at Mike's request. During this time, the patient went from speaking English quite well, to not understanding English, and the providers were able to talk to the patient via Arabic interpreter. Once this was complete, discharge papers were written for the patient, and when Mike went to discharge the patient, the patient claimed to no longer understand Arabic. The patient was talking in circles, and Mike was the perfect example of ultimate patience, as he never once became frustrated, nor let the patient feel like he was anything less than Mike's highest priority at that time. The patient then began to refuse to call his ride, Mike paged the providers, who stated they would not do anything further for the patient and to call VUPD. They came and calmly spoke with the patient, explaining he had to leave. During this time, Mike never left the patient's side, ensuring he completely understood everything. Finally, the patient gave Mike a phone number and Mike was able to call the patient a ride home.
-
Ancillary Staff Member of the Quarter: Mark Wrigley and Calvin Spencer- Food and Nutrition Services From Mark and Calvin’s nomination: On July 16th, we had an incident where a construction crew accidentally cut into the lines to the hospital’s kitchen 4 walk-in refrigerators. This resulted in $80K in food needing to be removed and an emergency shipment and cooler trailer being delivered to VUH. Both Mark and Calvin worked with Sodexo and Sysco Corporate leadership to expedite this action plan to minimize the impact to patient care. This could have been a catastrophic event, but they coordinated the resources to effectively mitigate this incident within a matter of hours. There was ZERO impact to patient care, and I cannot emphasize enough how big of a effort this was or how much gratitude our administration has for Mark, Calvin, and the Nutrition Team. These two team members have been a key part in the continued excellent employee engagement scores within the FANS department. The Nutrition group has ended FY24 with a 4.42, even during a major renovation, which they have also been key players in working with PDC and Construction teams to make this happen. From a Nutrition team morale perspective, these two team members have been a key part in the continued excellent employee engagement scores within the FANS department Construction timelines have been changing frequently and it is not to terribly uncommon for both of them to adjust on the fly and make things happen so construction can proceed. This includes moving literal mountains of food and equipment. From an overall VUH/Nursing Team morale perspective, a large employee fridge for the Emergency Department broke down and was beyond repair. Upon hearing this from their Director, Mark and Calvin had already begun unloading lunches out of the Nutrition department's team fridge and personally wheeled it down to the ED and installed it within the hour. In both this refrigerator crisis event and the number of other events, Mark and Calvin are always the first to step into action and do everything within their power to make it happen. They are model employees, and this transfers over to other team members within the Nutrition department. This is not only evident at their work at VUH, but also representing VUMC Credo in the community as well. Neither of them seek recognition for their efforts, it's just the way they are.
VUH Healthcare Hero Past Recipients
 | Nursing Across Vanderbilt University Medical Center |
