It Takes a Village!

At times, running a unit like ours looks like we are on auto-pilot;  very little turnover, great customer satisfaction scores, pretty amazing breastfeeding rates, stuff just happens.  

It runs that way because we have a pretty amazing team. Around 17 years ago, I came on an interview and I knew at that time that this unit was something special and I wanted to be a part of it.  What makes it special are the people that are a part of it.  Of course we have Registered Nurses, Lactation Consultants, Surgical Technologists, Certified Nursing Assistants and Patient Care Liaisons/Birth Registrars, Obstetricians, Certified Nurse Midwives, Pediatricians, Neonatologists, we are a Birthing Suites after all! I have my secretary who does a really great job keeping me organized and making our special seasonal Wall of Babies every month!

We also have some pretty great people that back us up.  Volunteers doing what ever needs to be done to make it special, knitted hats, rice packs, Christmas stockings, blankets, quilts.   Housekeepers keep our unit looking terrific.  You can hear the housekeepers speaking to our patients on a daily basis.  Some of them help us translate for women who are arriving to the hospital for the first time and they are scared.  A smiling face that soothes them is there.   We have Respiratory Therapists who are there in a moment's notice to help us with deliveries.  We have wonderful Dietary people who are there to bring up a snack or the regular meal and are always there with coffee for us too!  Pharmacy Techs bring us medications, Pharmacists check medications for us.  Transport comes up and brings us MORE patients and takes them to places all over the hospital.  Plant Operations is there on a daily basis fixing the stuff we break, changing filters, painting a wall, you name it they do it.  Bio-Med making sure our equipment is safe.  Social Workers and Case Managers helping to solve issues.  Hearing Screeners & Healthy Start.  Laboratory to run our labs for us, Radiology to do our x-rays and ultrasounds when we need them, Cardiology to help with echo's.  Anesthesiology to come for epidurals when we need them...IV Therapy when we just can't seem to get the line in (and we are amazing at putting IVs in ourselves!).  A chaplain when we need to pray.  The Central Supply people who restock our supply room.  Sterile Processing to make sure we have the tools to do our job.  Financial Services there to make sure we pay our bills and get paid every two weeks.

Tonight it was Security who made me feel thankful.  They over heard a family who was distraught and wanted to speak to the person in charge.  So, in a flash they were there to support me and make sure I was safe.  I was, but I felt a whole lot better knowing they were there.  A little over a year ago, we started having Security on our unit to keep us safe and they have become a real important part of our day!  

So thank you.  Thank you to all of you that make our unit look like a well-oiled machine.  Thank you for our village who makes caring for women and neonates look easy.  You are all a blessing in my life.