This year, National Nurses Week (May 6-12) commemorates the 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Similar to this pioneer of quality care, Paradigm celebrates the extraordinary work of our Catastrophic Care Management network managers and Complex Care Solutions case managers. During these unprecedented times, our nurses have adjusted seamlessly to ensure injured workers and their families continue to receive care that goes above and beyond.

The World Health Organization has declared 2020 the “Year of the Nurse,” which we could not agree with more. We commend our nurses as core members of our teams who provide support and coordination for injured workers, families, and care providers.

For #NationalNursesWeek2020, we asked our colleagues to highlight stories on how our nurses have stepped up as leaders to show adaptability, flexibility, and creativity in the daily work that they do, especially during these uncertain times:

Margie Stelzel, RN, PhD, CNLCP
Paradigm Network Manager
Catastrophic Care Management

Paradigm Medical Director Dr. Carl Nissen recently worked with Margie Stelzel and praised her for her flexibility as she navigated their professional responsibilities in a new way during this pandemic.

When Margie’s patient was discharged, she went the extra mile by purchasing and delivering the necessary pieces of equipment for his home when no one would deliver them. She provided support to the injured worker’s wife, who is working full-time while acting as the primary caregiver, and served as the eyes and ears for the treating physicians. Margie recognized the significant risks and has taken pictures of the patient’s daily progress and supplied them to his treating plastic surgeon and Dr. Nissen, so they can properly advise and support the injured worker in his recovery to the fullest extent.

Margie went above and beyond to ensure her patient was home safe and well-prepared for a quick recovery.

Aracely Henriquez, RN, BSN
Paradigm Case Manager
Complex Care Solutions

Paradigm Director of Operations, Michael Zambrano, shared the extra effort and compassion Aracely Henriquez demonstrated in helping an injured worker in the Complex Pain program to cope with her local stay-at-home orders due to COVID-19. The injured worker was out of home essentials and was unable to find the necessary items available for delivery. The injured worker was anxious about leaving the house as she was in a high-risk group for COVID-19.

Aracely realized the injured worker was feeling overwhelmed and down about her situation and went above and beyond to help. Aracely went on a small shopping spree for home essentials, and baked a batch of cookies. She dropped the essentials, cookies, and an encouraging note on her injured worker’s doorstep. Her timing could not have been more perfect—she dropped them off on the injured worker’s birthday, which she was spending alone due to stay-at-home orders. The injured worker was relieved to have the essentials she needed and touched by her case manager’s compassion.

Aracely put in extra effort and added her personal touch to ensure her injured worker knew that someone was always looking out for her and her best interests.

Elle Stockton, RN, BSN
Paradigm Network Manager
Catastrophic Care Management

Director of Clinical Services Tammy McCoy shared the extra measures Elle Stockton went through to advocate for an injured worker following his acute rehabilitation from a spinal cord injury. The patient was initially discharged to a small apartment where his daughter and her small children resided while waiting for his home modifications to be completed. Due to lack of space and over stimulation, the situation was detrimental. Elle identified the issues and worked quickly in conjunction with the carrier to obtain approval to move the injured worker and his wife to a more appropriate location. Once COVID-19 hit, he was still not able to move into his home. Elle once again worked with the occupational therapist to locate an apartment to meet his physical and cognitive needs and social distancing regulations due to the public health quarantine.

Elle championed for the needs of the injured worker and worked tirelessly to ensure he had a safe place to reside.

Mary Burke, RN, MA, BSN, LBSW
Paradigm Case Manager
Complex Care Solutions

Mary Burke has shown great adaptability and flexibility in ensuring that her injured worker was prepared for a provider visit, and that progress on his treatment plan was not inhibited by COVID-19 related restrictions.

Mary works with an injured worker who is heavily reliant on her services in order to successfully navigate his recovery and continue towards maximum medical improvement. The injured worker’s provider was only allowing patients to enter the facility, making it impossible for Mary to meet with the injured worker in the waiting room or to meet with the provider. Undeterred, and with the injured worker’s consent, Mary held a meeting with the injured worker in the facility’s parking lot while maintaining social distancing. After the injured worker visited with the provider, Mary convinced the provider to meet with her to go over details from the appointment and to agree on next steps. Mary stood outside, while the provider stood inside, with the door slightly cracked.

Mary’s determination and creativity demonstrates her commitment to supporting her injured workers and helping them successfully navigate their treatment plans.

Tami Vottero, RN, CCM
Paradigm Case Manager
Complex Care Solutions

Tami Vottero displayed her empathy and ability to educate in helping an injured worker agree to remain in-patient until an acute rehabilitation opening was available for her.

Tami worked with an injured worker who, despite serious injuries and comorbidities, was afraid to spend the night in the hospital due to fears of COVID-19. Tami empathized with the injured worker’s fears and built trust with her. Tami was able to educate the injured worker on the dangers of returning home and the steps the hospital was taking to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19. The injured worker eventually agreed to remain in-patient and was relocated to an acute rehabilitation facility.

Tami’s ability to empathize and build trust with her injured worker allowed her to provide the education necessary for the injured worker to make the best decision for her recovery and safety.

Tracy Raymond, RN
Paradigm Case Manager
Complex Care Solutions

Tracy Raymond’s injured worker needed to remain in the hospital, but the hospital would not allow his wife to visit as a precaution due to COVID-19. Tracy would frequently connect the husband and wife via a three-way call to provide updates and allow them to ask questions at the same time. These connections helped to ease fears about the injured worker’s future and the workers’ compensation process. When the injured worker was ready to be discharged, Tracy helped obtain home therapy instructions and ensured both the injured worker and his wife understood them.

These actions demonstrate Tracy’s compassion for her injured worker and willingness to not only focus on the physical injuries, but to also focus on the needs of the injured worker’s family.

Director of Clinical Services Sheila Bennion shared several examples of how her team of network managers, including Terry Laws, Kim Balamuta, and Edie Lowe, has shown true care and consideration in our current environment. She stated “Especially in times like this, it’s acts like these that show how much compassion and empathy someone has. I have to say that the network managers on all of my cases are doing a fantastic job and have really stepped up to the plate. They are so willing to do what needs to be done to support our injured workers. They are top notch.”

Terry Laws, BSN, RN
Paradigm Network Manager
Catastrophic Care Management

Terry Laws has taken thoughtful steps to ensure her patients are safe when out in the community. In particular, one of her injured workers is a paraplegic who must leave his residence for appointments and to feed his animals on his parent’s property. Understanding the importance of this for the injured worker, Terry took the time to carefully review COVID-19 information with him and sent him a cloth face mask for protection for when he has to leave his facility.

This personal touch shows the compassion and care Terry puts forth for her patients.

Kim Balamuta, RN, BSN, COHNS, CAOHC
Paradigm Network Manager
Catastrophic Care Management

Kim Balamuta’s patient, suffering from an acute brain injury, is currently at a facility that is on lockdown due to the COVID-19 crisis with no visitors allowed. Kim made the proactive move to coordinate time for the facility to provide an update to the injured worker’s son. She also encouraged family members to go to the facility and wave to the patient through the window. Kim also went to the facility and waved her support to the injured worker. The family and carrier were especially touched by her compassion.

These actions show Kim’s extreme thoughtfulness and that she would do whatever she could to provide the best support for her patient and the family.

Elizabeth Lowe, RN, BSN, CCM, CNLCP
Paradigm Network Manager
Catastrophic Care Management

Elizabeth Lowe’s patient with an acute brain injury was in a post-acute residential program and transitioning to partial time at home and partial time at the facility when a COVID-19 shelter-in-place order was announced. Because the injured worker was at home at the time of the announcement, Elizabeth quickly worked with the residential program to set up a telemedicine day program for the injured worker. As a result, the patient was able to stay home with his family and still continue to successfully participate in the day program.

Elizabeth did a phenomenal job strategizing about how to overcome all of the obstacles to make this program successful. She stepped up to the plate and made it happen.

These are just a small portion of the many remarkable examples we have that exhibit how our dedicated network managers and case managers go above and beyond on a daily basis in order to support an injured worker’s return to the best possible life. Our nurses are uniquely positioned to adapt to these unpredictable times and they creatively find ways to make sure their patients and their families have less to worry about. Stay tuned for more success stories as we celebrate National Nurses Week!