A hasty effort at Memorial Hospital North finds childcare for patient, reunites family
A hospital bed can be a lonely place, especially for someone awaiting surgery in an unfamiliar city with a small child and a husband stationed in the military in a faraway place.
Such was the unenviable spot a young woman found herself in recently at UCHealth Memorial Hospital North. Tough as her situation was, she was fortunate to land in the caring hands of hospital staff, including nurse and care manager Jana Welch.
Welch, who has worked at Memorial Hospital North for nine-and-a-half years, arrived for a morning shift and learned about the woman, who had her young daughter with her.
A delicate situation was at hand. The woman was scheduled to go in for an unplanned procedure that day. With her husband far away on Army duty, there was no one to watch the little girl, who was about 7-years-old, could not stay in the hospital room alone while her mother was in surgery.
On top of that, there was no immediate way to let the father know what was going on. Welch and the house nursing supervisor spoke with the patient, who could tell them only his rank and location.
“The poor woman didn’t have a lot of support in Colorado Springs,” Welch recalled.
Welch pitched in to help unknot the problem, first by contacting people who might help find childcare for the daughter. She called a hospital case manager, along with the Family Readiness Group at Fort Carson, which provides support for service members and their families.
A happy turn came when Welch returned to the woman’s room to find her on FaceTime with her husband. He gave all his identifying information and asked Welch to contact his warrant officer for help in locating childcare.
A representative from that office arrived at the hospital within an hour, Welch said, and helped to connect the patient with her twin sister in Florida. She agreed to take care of her niece during the difficult time, easing the situation considerably.
“It all happened within a few hours,” Welch said. “She was happy the child was going to be with someone she knew and would be in a safe place.”
Meanwhile, Welch worked with Dr. Christopher Evilsizer, a hospitalist at Memorial Hospital Central, to help get the woman’s husband home. Welch found out before she left the hospital that day that he was on his way.
After he arrived in Colorado Springs, the daughter flew home from Florida, and the family was reunited.
Welch played a big role in the happy ending but is quick to credit the Family Readiness Group and warrant officer for their roles and for some fortunate timing.
“I was lucky with the husband being on FaceTime when I came back to the room,” she said. “That helped so much because I could chat with him directly.”
Her effort to go beyond her clinical duties to help a patient is the norm at UCHealth, Welch added.
“I talk to patients all day long,” she said. “I hear them say, ‘people are so kind here and go out of their way to help me.’”