Abby Safar, RN, Surgical Services/Post Anesthesia Care Unit, made it her mission for her patient to receive the care he came for – no matter what it took. That passion and determination made her the latest ICARE award recipient, for Compassion, on January 30, 2025.
Abby was nominated for the award by gastroenterologist, Milton Ochieng, MD, (known as Dr. O) for her care of a stage 3-4 esophageal cancer patient. The patient, who had undergone extensive treatment, needed a feeding tube. Due to the patient’s condition, the traditional method of inserting a feeding tube did not work. Dr. O picks up the story from here:
“The patient’s next option was for him to go home and wait for insurance approval to have a surgeon attempt to insert the feeding tube on another day. It was a Friday. For most people the easy thing would have been to discharge the patient quickly and move on to something different.
But Ms. Safar did not stop there. She reached out to inquire if I could help this gentleman out. She felt that it would not be in the patient's best interest to go home and to continue suffering without any form of nutrition. To make matters worse, getting any insurance approval for an outpatient visit with a surgeon would have been too difficult for the patient. After reviewing the patient's chart, I informed her that a surgeon would have to place the feeding tube in an operating room.
She diligently got on the phone with her supervisor. Together, we coordinated with the hospitalist, the surgeon and the patient access team and got the patient directly admitted so that he could get his procedure that Friday afternoon. Because of Ms. Safar's dedication to exceptional care and because of her compassion, she helped our patient to get expeditious care and helped him navigate a medical landscape that might be much harder for the general public.
The patient and family were truly grateful. It's hard enough to deal with esophageal cancer. It's hard enough to go through chemotherapy and radiation. But to go through all that pain and be constantly thirsty and hungry and then, to come in on a Friday hoping to finally get a feeding tube to help you quench your thirst and break your fast, and have it all fall apart is just devastating!
And so, Ms. Safar coming in the picture and not giving up and being persistent in advocating for this patient was truly touching! I believe that Ms. Safar embodies Blessing's ICARE tenet.”
Blessing Health employees nominate their peers for an ICARE award based on their demonstration of any one – or all – of the Blessing Values of Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence.