Every day, nurses at Sinai Health are doing extraordinary things as we focus our efforts on COVID-19. In honour of Nursing Week, we have a special edition of Captured Caring featuring submissions that highlight the inspiring role nurses play. Next week we will be back to our regular program of featuring stories of encouragement and inspiration from all our people. Have your own story or photo to share? Submit it here.


A nurse wearing scrubs and a mask standing in  a hallway, looking at the camera. She is also wearing a stethoscope, lanyard with employee ID badge and pager“Claire Wallace recently joined our Mother-Baby team as a newly graduated nurse. Claire stepped up to provide care to our first two COVID-19 positive post-partum patients and pioneered the development of our post-partum COVID-19 care pathway. She showed excellent critical thinking and compassionate care, providing these new families with the best start and patient experience. Kudos to Claire for her strength and amazing nursing care. We are so blessed to have you on our team!”
Submitted by: Angela Leslie, Nursing Unit Administrator, Mother-Baby Program, Mount Sinai


Nurses wearing scrubs and masks sitting in front of computers at the nursing station. They are both talking on phones.The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined some of our programs for patients on the Transitional Care Units at Bridgepoint. The No Visitor Policy added another layer of challenge for our staff, patients and their caregivers. To reduce the anxiety of caregivers, our nurses, in partnership with the Patient Experience team, now reach out to the caregivers by phone to proactively provide clinical updates on patients. The nurses use a template and have a schedule when calling which provides a consistent structure and timing.
Submitted by: Leo Alfaro, Patient Care Manager, Transitional Care, Bridgepoint


A woman on a sidewalk in a city. She is holding a sign and looking up. The signs Hi  14-S and has a heart.“I’d like to share a picture of Susan Axelrad, a retired nurse. She called her old unit, 14 South recently to ask us to go to the window facing University Avenue. She was standing below on the street with the sign as you see in the picture. She had come from home to say ‘hi’ and show us her support. I’m sharing this as it’s heart-warming that she has come from a far distance to let us know that she is thinking of us front-liners. Our staff have, and will always have, Mount Sinai and their colleagues in their hearts.”
Submitted by: Elaheh Sarvi, Nursing Unit Administrator, Mount Sinai

 


A woman sitting on a small couch in an office wearing a lab coat, stethoscope and face mask. Next to her on the couch are cloth face masks.“Kudos to Eva Rutherford, Nurse Practitioner/Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Mother-Baby Program. Eva has generously made scrub caps with buttons for Mother-Baby Program staff. She has also sewn masks for Portland Place, an apartment building with high risk residents. Thank you Eva for everything you do!”
Submitted by: Rita Chin, Clinical Coordinator, Mother-Baby Program, Mount Sinai

 

 


Four hospital employees wearing masks standing on  a second-floor walk way with an iron railing. They are  looking at the camera.“The Clinical Utilization nurses at Bridgepoint interact with our acute care and community partners via email, telephone and OTN rounds in order to move patients through the health care system. The team reviews referrals for rehab, complex care and palliative care and they offer admission for hundreds of patients per month. Every day they do their best to communicate information about incoming admissions to our clinical teams and the different departments at Bridgepoint who need to prepare for the arrival of our patients. They also complete clinical coding for all of our patients as part of our hospital funding. They are an amazing team who always put the patient first!”
Submitted by: Kim Sterling, Manager, Admitting and Utilization, Bridgepoint


A stuffed animal moose, sitting on a table in front of a laptop as if he is participating in a video conference call.“Maple the Magnet Moose, the mascot for Mount Sinai’s Magnet redesignation moderated our weekly Advanced Practice Nursing/Leadership meeting recently. Maple and colleagues practice physical distancing by using Zoom. The videoconferencing technology enables the clinical leadership team to meet and share updates on new practices and emerging topics.”
Submitted by: William Mundle, Manager Quality and Performance for Surgical Services and Urgent & Critical Care, Mount Sinai

 


“I work in the Women’s and Infants’ program and one of the clinics I work in is the early pregnancy clinic for women who have faced some threats to their pregnancy and need advice or assistance. One of my patients was able to continue with a healthy pregnancy and I referred her to an obstetrician at Mount Sinai. When the State of Emergency was announced I got redeployed to my previous unit, Labour and Delivery. One day when I went to introduce myself to a patient who was in labour, it was the patient I had met at the clinic and we were so happy to meet again. I helped her with her labour and delivery and transferred her to the postpartum unit. Through the whole process it felt like I was giving care to my own daughter and I’m sure she felt the same since  her mother wasn’t able to travel to Canada because of the pandemic.

I’ve always tried in my life to look for positive points even in most negative situations. Although the redeployment has been really challenging for me and my family, nice experiences like this are priceless and very rewarding.”
Submitted by: Stella Rostamian, RN, Women’s and Infants’ Ambulatory Program, Mount Sinai