Whether working on the front lines in patient care or in another role at UTMB, everyone contributes to Best Care. Here are a few examples of employees in different roles who are demonstrating Best Care. These employees were the recipients of the first Best Care in Action Awards announced in April.
Happy to help with the Clear Lake Campus opening
Over the opening weekend of the UTMB Health Clear Lake Campus in early April, the staff realized that the perfusion pump packs needed to proceed with scheduled heart cases had not been ordered.
Everyone quickly sprang into action and began locating a source and arranging to have the packs delivered to the campus early in the week, with the hope that they would be on campus by the morning of April 2. However, recognizing the need and the urgency of the matter, Buck Bradford, senior materials handling technician in Materials Management, volunteered to drive to Oklahoma to pick up the perfusion packs to ensure they’d be available for the hospital’s first weekday of operation.
After driving for more than 12 hours round trip, Buck delivered the pump packs to the campus at 1 a.m., telling the staff upon his return to the Clear Lake Campus that he was happy to help.
Quick actions in a life-saving emergency
On March 31, two patients with gunshot wounds arrived at UTMB Health’s Urgent Care Clinic in Texas City. In a scene that is not typical for an urgent care clinic, the team of physicians, nurses and staff quickly administered CPR, stabilized one of the patients and sent both via ambulance to UTMB’s Level I Trauma Center on the Galveston Campus. There, faculty and staff worked to save the surviving patient’s life.
Back at the Texas City Urgent Care, Ann O’Connell, Dr. Cindy Judice and other staff worked to clean up the facility, which ended up closing for the rest of the day. Staff were given the opportunity to go home and, while some did, others volunteered to go to other UTMB urgent cares to help out since it was presumed patients who could not go to the Texas City site might go to another UTMB location.
A special thanks goes to everyone at the clinic, including Dr. Alberto Gutierrez, Kennikqua Thompson, Lycia Aguiar, Turquoria Williams, Yuridia Zuniga-Martinez, Jarica Herring, Kimberly Staton, ZaMia Serges and Rosana Gomez.
Going above and beyond to secure the proper medication for a patient
Mark Garcia, purchasing manager in the Department of Pharmacy, is another UTMB employee doing everything he can to contribute to Best Care.
In early April, a patient arrived at UTMB to be treated for a serious condition. It was discovered that the patient’s health was also affected by a second illness—a rare condition that required a special medication.
Garcia quickly got to work to order the needed and rare medication, which was no small feat. Aside from the fact that the necessary medication required a special emergency order, the quantity that was needed to initiate and sustain treatment on an ongoing basis was considerable.
Still, Garcia ensured the medication was acquired for the patient, and he has worked closely with the manufacturer to ensure the patient will have access to the medication for ongoing therapy in the future.