IN THIS ISSUE
What's News at Guardian Nurses?? Taking Back Your Life
After an Illness
New Non-Profit Website for Safe Medication Use
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New Non-Profit Website for Safe Medication Use
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), located in Horsham, PA, is the nation's only non-profit organization devoted entirely to medication error prevention and safe medication use.
Late in 2012, the ISMP launched their consumer website, Consumer Med Safety. The site has a great deal of free information and an area where you can report medication errors. Users can also input their current medications (including over-the-counter meds) and receive via email any drug/drug interactions, duplications, recalls, and new black box warnings.
Visit the site and learn more!!
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What's New at
Guardian Nurses
Five Tips to Make A Doctor's Visit
More Effective
Betty Long, RN, president of Guardian Nurses, appeared as a guest on HealthSmart, the award winning show on Harrisburg Public Television's channel, WITF.
The segment, entitled,
 | | Five Tips to Make A Doctor's Visit More Effective |
can be viewed by clicking on the photo above.
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"I Could Never Have Done This Without Your Help."
One day last week, we received an urgent call from a daughter of an elderly man who had been hospitalized for an extended period. Though the hospital staff had tried to get him into a rehab facility, his insurance denied the admission. She asked us to help appeal the insurance denial. The next several days were filled with repeated calls to the clinical staff at the hospital, the insurance company, the rehab facility and of course, his daughter. Lo and behold, the clinical information that had been provided to the insurance company did not match the patient's current clinical picture. After relentlessly persisting with the appeal, we found out on Friday at 5PM (just in time for Happy Hour!) that the denial had been overturned. He was transferred on Saturday and his daughter was "beside herself." She was positively gleeful and texted, "I could never have done this without your help."
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Happy New Year!! In this New Year's edition of The Flame, we'd like to introduce you to Gracie, a patient with whom we worked a little more than one year ago. A young woman whose future was very bright until she experienced sudden cardiac arrest---yes, her very young and athletic heart stopped. And who, this New Year's Day, started her successful climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro! That would be 19,000 feet!
Traditionally, we tend to look at the New Year as an opportunity to change, to take that class, to start working out, to commit to eating right. To set new goals for the year.
But when you're felled with an illness, or hospitalized, that too can be an opportunity for change. For growth.
Read Gracie's story below and I promise you, though you may not be ready to commit to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro next New Year's Day, you may want to set a goal or two.
Happy New Year!
Betty
Betty Long, RN, MHA
President
Guardian Nurses Healthcare Advocates
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Taking Back Your Life
After an Illness
Gracie and one of the children at Flying Kites Orphanage
Meet Gracie. In June 2011, Gracie's future was very bright---President of the Student Council, varsity soccer player, heading to college to compete as a 'walk-on' for a Division One soccer program. Three days after her graduation she experienced sudden cardiac arrest---her heart stopped---and after being defibrillated by the emergency rescue squad multiple times at home, she was rushed to the hospital. Her mother and brother followed behind---their lives, and Gracie's, never to be the same.
Three weeks and one miracle later, Gracie walked out of the hospital. Her only souvenir was in her chest wall, a new ICD (an automatic implantable cardiodefibrillator). This small device monitors heart rhythms. If the device detects an irregular rhythm, it uses low-energy electrical pulses to restore a normal rhythm. If low energy doesn't work, it will switch to high-energy pulses. Life as she, and her family, once knew it had changed. She was on medications for her heart that are intended for middle-aged adults,she was prevented from playing soccer as the risk of bumping the newly-implanted ICD was too great and she found she was having some difficulty figuring out things that she had not previously. Still, she persevered. She worked at her school subjects and once she got medical clearance from her cardiologist, she was competing on a club team on the soccer field. By the end of her first full academic year, she had made the Dean's List. And this past fall semester, Gracie announced to her family and friends that she was raising money to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Sure, some folks raise money for a bike-a-thon, or a race, but very few of us would travel to Africa to climb 19,000 feet! But Gracie raised more than the minimum amount of money required and flew to Nairobi on December 25th. On January 1st, New Year's Day, she started her trek to the top of the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Several days later, she stood atop the mountain. Talk about starting 2013 off with a bang!! All the while, we were following Gracie's trek by staying in touch with her mom. When we got the good news about her making it to the peak, this is what her mom wrote.... (Reprinted with her permission)
"She has always been so strong and athletic and disciplined that I think it was hard for her to think the "sudden death" incident would continue to define who she was. While the trek was part fundraising for the Flying Kites Foundation, I also think it was Gracie's way of reclaiming her life. And for those of us who love her, her making the trek was so dramatic and terrifying that it overwhelmed everyone's thought process. It was always present when we thought of her. But getting to the top of that mountain might have delivered the requisite drama and counter-force to minimize the memories and fears and concerns that also dominated our thoughts. So, in a way, it really reclaimed our lives, too!"
Everyone's story is personal; everyone's motivation is uniquely different. But if an 18 year old young woman whose heart stopped suddenly can take back her life in less than two years, I am pretty sure that we can all make a goal or two this year. Whaddya say?
Congratulations, Gracie! With great thanks to Gracie and her mom for allowing us to share their story!!
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