VC Notes - A weekly word from Dr. LouAnn Woodward
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Friday, May 13, 2022

Gratitude: Easy to Give, Impactful to Receive

Good morning.

It’s been a fantastic and energizing week with both National Nurses Week and Employee Appreciation Week (which we recognize alongside National Hospital Week) celebrations and activities adding some excitement to each day. Thank you to everyone who was involved in coordinating and carrying out the scheduled events and social media activities.

While institutionally we put up banners and scooped up ice cream this week in your honor, what you do for Mississippians is worthy of praise and recognition 365 days a year. I’m proud to lead a medical center that is filled with talented, hard-working, compassionate and positive faculty and staff who every single day show what it means to be #UMMCStrong. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say THANK YOU.

Recognizing these weeks and showing our appreciation for you are certainly important, but the highest level of esteem we can ever receive is when our patients take the time to let us know when they have received excellent care and praise those who provided  a positive patient experience. It helps put everything into perspective when we are told by the people who entrust us with their care they felt kindness and compassion from us or if they recount a time when a faculty or staff member went out of their way to make their time with us just a little bit easier. I love hearing these types of stories.

One recent such example is when Cheryl Charley, a California native who now lives in Canton, called our Office of Patient Experience because she felt compelled to share with us about the excellent care we’ve given her and the key people behind it. Cheryl is a breast cancer survivor and in March had a double mastectomy at the hands of surgeons Dr. Scott Berry and Dr. Grace Shumaker. The best news of all: Cheryl’s care team told her after she woke up from surgery that they removed all of the cancer!

VC_May_13_GratitudeShe’s since completed three rounds of chemotherapy – under the watch of nurse practitioner Angela McReynolds – and last month called Patient Experience to talk about her care. Below is a recount of what she told us over the phone:

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer September 15, 2021. I first met Dr. Scott Berry, and he explained what would happen on my journey. Dr. Berry introduced the team and nurse practitioner Angela.

I had breast surgery March 7, 2022. Angela came in my infusion room on March 22 to check my drains and see if they could be removed. From then and on, every time she came in my room, I was always emotional. She had the most gentle and sweetest spirit I’ve ever met. I know she has other patients and other things pressing on her, but she is always so caring and takes time to check on me. She always manages to comfort me and talk me off the tip of the mountain. I know a lot of providers and doctors are busy, but she responds back right away.

On one visit, I was very anxious, and she said just come sit in the room in the sun with me. I was crying, and she gave me tissue and she sat there with me for a long time until I was ok to leave. She wasn’t rushing me. 

I saw her today and had a painful procedure, and she held my hand and comforted me and made me feel better.

I look forward to seeing her. She always has the biggest smile and comes in with the best rapport. She never rushes me. She is always making sure I’m ok before she leaves the room. She crosses all t’s and dots the i’s. I’m glad she is on this journey with me. She is a great person, and I am grateful I’ve met her. I can’t say enough good things, and I just want people to know it.

I’m sure they do know – I can tell she is not just doing her job - she loves her job. I can tell she comes to work to help, to comfort and even if she can’t, I know she is going to try her hardest. I WANT EVERYBODY TO KNOW ABOUT ANGELA!”

Later, she added these words:

“Every time, she calls you ‘Love. She says, ‘Hey, Love!’ Whenever I go, she is so positive. She’s one of a kind. That’s not just her job. 

I know she has other patients, but she never rushes me. She is quick to console me and comfort me. I don’t feel the needle going in at chemo because she’s so careful. I’m a small-framed person and I don’t have much muscle, so she’s so careful.

Even though sometimes my visit brings pain, I love my visits with Angela.”

“When I got cancer, God gave me Dr. Berry and Dr. Shumaker. I love my team. They’ve been a Godsend to me.”

Wow. That’s fantastic. Thank you, Angela, for showing all of us how treating your role as more than just a job can have a dynamic impact on the people we engage with. Kudos to the entire breast care program for providing excellent care to Cheryl. In this case, it was a patient under our care but the same approach that led to this level of fulfillment can be taken no matter what position you fill or area you work in. What each of us do is important, not always easy, but very important, and it takes ALL of us working together and doing all we can to exceed expectations of the patients, students, customers, audience, etc. that we engage with to reach our ultimate goal of A Healthier Mississippi.
Signed, Lou Ann Woodward, M.D.

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