Going the extra mile for patients

The sign on the Women and Newborn Unit classroom door makes it clear this is no normal week: “Shhhhh! Nurses sleeping … Enter at your own risk,” it reads.

On the other side of the door, team members converted the classroom into a makeshift sleeping space so they could be on duty for patients, and off the treacherous roads.

“When you go into health care, you know weather events like this are going to happen,” says Meredith Lamberth, a registered nurse who volunteered to stay overnight on the unit at Cox South.

Meredith says that while she doesn’t live far away, she was definitely nervous about battling snow-covered roads on Wednesday morning.

“I felt much more comfortable staying over,” she says. “It was actually fun – kind of like a sleepover you used to have growing up.”

Multiple night shift team members who worked overnight on Monday volunteered to sleep in the classroom following their shift so they could be on deck for Tuesday night. Then, three day shift colleagues stayed overnight Tuesday night to help cover the day shift on Wednesday.

Registered nurse Brooke Smith wasn’t scheduled to work on Wednesday, but she knew some of her colleagues wouldn’t be able to make it in. She volunteered to stay on campus to be on duty Wednesday so another colleague wouldn’t have to get out.

“I could see on my phone that lots of wrecks were happening,” she says. “It was just safer for me if I stayed off the road. And if I could keep someone else from having to come in, that’s safer for my teammates, too.”

Brooke and Meredith joined their fellow registered nurse, Diana Kelly, in staying over on a set of air mattresses Tuesday night.

“We shared stories and talked, and we really bonded a lot. Honestly, we should have gone to bed sooner than we did, but we were having a good time,” Brooke says with a laugh.

For the Women and Newborn team, making sure they are available to care for their patients is simply part of their mission.

“This is the job - we choose to take care of other people, and our patients truly depend on us while they are in the hospital,” Brooke says.

“You want to give your patients the best care, which they deserve,” Meredith adds. “They are already under enough stress having a new baby and being in the middle of a storm. Having our care team here for them is so important. It is just part of your dedication to your patients.”