Hope is a 24-year veteran at the hospital and works as a Multi Procedures Technologist assisting with mammograms, CAT scans, and X-rays. She thought she had seen it all in her career until COVID-19 arrived in her small town.
“It’s shocking—I never in my life dreamed anything like this,” she said. But a global pandemic is not going to stop Hope from showing up every day to do her job. “People are still having heart attacks. People are still having strokes. People are still getting cancer. None of those things have stopped just because COVID came to town,” Hope said.
That’s not to say COVID-19 hasn’t had a major impact on Hope’s day to day. Her hours have been reduced and she doesn’t get facetime with her Lung Surveillance team member, Cherie Miller. “We are not working any of the same shifts, so we don’t get to bounce things off each other as much as before,” she said. That hasn’t stopped the Lung Surveillance team from ensuring patients are cared for during the COVID-19 crisis. The team is having virtual pow-wows to manage patients and has been using Eon’s Essential Patient Reports to focus on those who need to be prioritized for immediate follow-up.
“We are strapped right now and it’s helpful to have a report that gives us focus,” Hope said. “It keeps us on schedule, so we don’t get bogged down.”
Adjusting the way she works in the office is just one change Hope has faced as a result of the virus. She also mentioned that her daily routine begins with a prayer as always and now ends with her removing all of her clothes and immediately putting them into the wash as she walks in the door after a long shift. “As a healthcare worker, I know I’m at a higher risk,” she said. “I have to do everything I can to protect my family as well as my patients.”
“This is just something I signed up for—I don’t feel like I’m doing anything special.”
— Hope White, Multi Procedures Technologist at Scott Memorial Health
The extra precautions are worth it for Hope. She will do anything to keep her precious family safe. She’s also trying to step back and just breathe. “I try to take a few minutes every day to stop and calm down,” said Hope. “I don’t ever know what I’m going to walk into and that was my job even before COVID. It’s all part of the job—I just take it minute by minute.”
Juggling the stress of her job and caring for patients during an unprecedented pandemic is not the only thing keeping Hope up at night. She’s also a mom and is devastated that her son, who is a senior in high school, won’t get to experience a typical graduation ceremony. “I just wish I could fix this all for him, but I have to remember that we’re all here, we’re healthy, we have each other—and that makes me feel OK,” she said fighting back tears.
Hope knows we will get through all of this together. She is proud to be a front-line healthcare worker at Scott Memorial Health. “They have done everything they can to make sure we have what we need,” she said. “I’m proud of our organization and what we do every day.”
Thank you for being a Patient Champion, Hope. We are proud of you and the important work you do every day for Essential Patients.
